


Across the Universe

by Some_Cookie_Crumbz



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, Other ships will be listed at the start of each chapter they are included in, Since I don't want these showing up in those ships tags when they aren't the main focus, Tagging the other characters mostly because they appear in a couple of the fics
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-28
Updated: 2019-02-28
Packaged: 2019-03-10 10:21:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 43
Words: 115,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13499934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Some_Cookie_Crumbz/pseuds/Some_Cookie_Crumbz
Summary: A collection of one-shots I've written for the ship of Kidge. These have all also been posted on my Tumblr and will be posted here around the same time.





	1. Burn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keidge Week 2016 Day One Prompt Fill. Pre-series with slight ret-conning. Big Brothers Shiro and Matt decide that Katie and Keith might be good friends and decide to arrange a meeting between them at a Garrison-centric bonfire Implied Shatt.

“You’ll be attending the Garrison in a few weeks, Katie,” He had said with an enthusiastic grin, “so you should get to know some of your classmates. I mean, at least two of them are going to be assigned as your simulation partners. It’ll be good for you to make some connections.” She’d been skeptical if her brother actually meant what he was saying. Normally Matt wasn’t one to approve of sneaking out of the house past curfew – which she did way too often – to attend a bonfire in the middle of the desert – which she had never done before - with a bunch of other teenagers. She leaned closer into his personal space, slowly raising an eyebrow. The corners of his grin twitched; the ultimate tell that he had ulterior motives. “W-What are you looking at me like that for?” Ah, there was the nervous laugh she’d been waiting for!

“What’s in it for you?” She answered.

“You mean other than the satisfaction of getting to help my little sister broaden her social circle to include more people than just myself and Pascal?”

“Pascal is great company, I’ll have you know,”

“Pascal is a dog, thus unable to engage in higher level communication that could help stimulate your young mind,”

“That’s where I have to disagree with you, Matt. Pascal is a conversational genius,”

“Now I know you’re full of it,”

“He’s enthusiastic, attentive, and a great listener. That’s much more than I can say about some of my peers,”

“Should we readdress the whole ‘Pascal is a literal bark-bark puppy dog’ thing again? Because I just mentioned it less than five seconds ago, Katie,”

“It was closer to seven seconds, if we really want to get into split hairs,”

“Katie, seriously! Why can’t you ever just take an interest in doing something other than sitting around the house like a bump on a log?” He asked flatly, massaging his temples in mild irritation. The exchange left a small smirk on her lips. She appreciated what Matt was trying to do, given he had no idea she spent very little time in the house once the sun went done, but she also didn’t like the idea of someone trying to take advantage of her. She was the farthest thing from gullible and could see when there was more to a person’s motives than they let on. She would let no one – even her own beloved brother – try and pull a fast one on her. He dropped his hands and looked at her, the resolve in her bright eyes slaughtering whatever was left of his own, before throwing his hands up in the air. “Fine, I had another motive! I got on Commander Iverson’s good side over this last year, so I was gonna see if I could convince him to partner you up in a group with my friend’s younger brother, since you’ll probably be in the same class. They’re both going to be at the bonfire tonight so I figured it’d be a good chance for the two of you to meet and see what you think of each other.”

She tilted her head slightly and scowled. “You lack faith in my ability to make friends that much, Matt?” She asked.

“Honestly, yes, I do. But, more than that,” Matt said with a tired laugh at her disgruntled squawk, “I think you two would get along really well and could make a great team. The kid’s a natural talent when it comes to piloting – or that’s what Shiro tells me, at least – and it’s not like you haven’t expressed an interest in eventually learning to pilot; besides, you said you’re going for communications as your specialty for now, right? You two could help each other improve in both areas and look out for each other and what not.”

“So you two are basically trying to set us up on a play date?”

He shrugged. “If you want to look at it that way, that’s your prerogative, not mine. So, what do you say? Are you in or out?” Matt asked, his grin from before returning. The expression was more relaxed and at ease this time around so she knew he’d been genuine.

Katie had no interest in what her brother was trying to do for her, but the sentiment and genuine concern he held for her safety warmed her heart. Matt had been thrilled when she received her acceptance letter to the Garrison, given that it was going to be his Senior year, and he’d been looking forward to showing her around. Then he was given the option of testing out of his final year and joining their dad and Matt’s best friend Shiro on the Kerberos mission, an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. She had practically bullied him into agreeing; and his current proposition, she figured, was his way of trying to assure his little sister would be well looked after while he was away. A bit on the cliché side, but the gesture and motives behind them were so painfully authentic of Matt as an older brother – always patient and caring, if not a bit of a worrywart – that she couldn’t find it in her to be too offended.

She took a deep breath before nodding. “Yeah, just let me get changed into something a bit better suited for this little excursion,”

…

She could hear the thumping of loud, bass-centric music and see the faintest yellow gleaming of the large inferno long before they pulled up to the actual party grounds. It was about a thirty minute drive away from the main Garrison base – which, itself, was already pretty far out in the outskirts of the Arizona desert – and the whole time she’d been too occupied by staring out the window and patting herself on the shoulder for being such a good little sister, humoring poor Matt like she was.

After all, she could have been out researching some odd radio frequencies she’d been picking up on.

Matt parked his Jeep further out from the wide parameters created by the large circle of various vehicles. There were four trucks parked closer to the large, unruly blaze – which, if she was honest, probably wasn’t following the state regulations on how exactly a fire pit needed to be constructed to keep the fire from getting out of hand – and were probably owned by the bonfire runners, judging by the stacks of wood, gas cans and ice chests settled in the beds of them. There was already a huge crowd of people gathered around, snagging drinks from the ice chests or smashing empty beer cans against their foreheads before tossing them into the comically large blaze in the center. Others were dancing just within the light of the fire, their bodies too close and hands moving down to places too sensitive for Katie to not know what they were doing. “Wow… This is certainly something,” She said evenly as she slipped out of the car.

“Well, Strohnam and Gilligan tend to follow the go-big-or-go-home mantra with everything they do,” Matt answered with a small laugh. He looked around at the surrounding vehicles and grinned when he seemed to spot one in specific. “Ah, great! Shiro’s already here.” She tried to follow his gaze to figure out which vehicle it was he was looking at, but he directed her towards one of the trucks with an ice chest instead. “Okay, so there are a few ground rules for this, Katie.” He said evenly.

She blinked then scowled. “What do you mean ground rules?”

“Look, it’s nothing big or important, so just relax. Just… Do me a favor, and when you meet Shiro and Keith, maybe tone down your usual wit and sarcasm a little bit? Not everyone will think your commentary is as… Charming, let’s say, as me or Mom and Dad do, okay?” He asked before nodding in greeting at the two young men sitting next to the ice chest. One of the guys tipped up his shades and grinned even wider.

“Holy shit, Mattie Holt! Didn’t think you’d be coming, bro!” He laughed, getting out of the truck and eagerly high-five-then-chest bumping with her brother. Katie smirked as Matt quickly covered how he staggered a bit from the burlier guy’s actions. The guy then turned his attention over to her, seeming to appreciate her green and white striped T-shirt and black skater skirt more than she thought was appropriate, and hummed lightly. “I take it this is your lil’ sis?” He asked.

“Yup, this is Katie,” Matt said, setting one hand on her shoulder and carefully guiding her closer to his side. Matt didn’t have much in the way of muscle for fighting, but that certainly didn’t keep him from drawing lines in the side about his sister right quick. “Anyway, just two drinks for us, Collin. Something non-alcoholic for her, if you could.”

Collin laughed and shook his head, climbing back into the bed of the truck and pulling the ice chest toward himself. “Man, you gotta cut loose sometime! Lil’ Katie here should be allowed to get a little crunk, don’t you think?”

“She’s not gonna be eighteen for another two weeks, and even then that’s not legal drinking age, so I’d rather air on the side of caution,” Matt answered bluntly, his tone dead-pan.

The other guy laughed slightly, leaning over the edge of the truck and into Katie’s personal space. He wore an expression she could only describe as his attempt at a smolder. “Sounds like your brother’s a real wet blanket and you look like the type that knows how to have a good time. I’m always open to take you on as my cute co-pilot,” He hummed and winked at her.

She snorted out a small, “Nope,” before taking the soda Matt offered her. She turned her back on the guy and looked around curiously, pointedly ignoring the distressed whine he gave in response to her quick rebuttal, trying to figure out which kids would most likely be in her class. Nobody was wearing uniforms or name tags so it was mostly just by focusing on how the others carried themselves and hoping that the older members of the Garrison would carry themselves with more confidence. Going that route, she saw less newcomers than she’d expected to be here, but then again, she didn’t really care.

She perked up when she saw two other men heading their way, one of them waving and calling out to her brother.

She had never seen Takashi Shirogane in person until this point, but she recognized him from pictures on Matt’s social media. Seeing him in a more casual setting in person, wearing a black muscle shirt with the Captain America shield on the front and dark blue jeans, was drastically different than the pictures of him sporting his olive Garrison uniform and her half-dead coffee-less brother she’d seen. His smile was warm and genuine and just seemed designed to help give those who saw it peace of mind. He carried himself like one would expect of a talented pilot – with confidence and grace – but there was a certain ease to his shoulders that made him seem more approachable. It made sense that he was listed as the top pilot to be churned out of the Garrison in the last twenty years; he seemed almost designed to instill trust and faith in those around him.

A study in contrast to the scowling young man trailing a few paces behind him.

She assumed he was the Keith fellow her brother had mentioned before, given that he was apparently accompanying Shiro. His outfit was fine – just a red T-shirt under a denim jacket and black jeans – but everything else about him made him seem like the last person you’d want to willingly approach on a social level. His shoulders were slouched with his hands stuffed in his pockets, his mouth twisted in a scowl that seemed like a bad fit at a bonfire, and his eyes narrowed as if he thought everything he happened to gaze at was trying to pick a fight with him. As Shiro and Matt exchanged pleasantries, she watched him with an amused grin on her lips.

If that was the kid her brother intended to entrust her well-being to? He wouldn’t last a full thirty minutes before giving up.

“Anyway,” Matt said, his hand resting between her shoulder blades and jarring her from her thoughts, “this is Katie, in the flesh. Katie, this is Shiro.”

She smiled politely, taking the offered hand and shaking. “It’s nice to meet you. Dad and Matt have told me a lot of good things about you,” She said.

Shiro’s smile became a bit shy at that. “Ah, they flatter me. I’m just a regular Joe compared to both of them,” He said. So he was the modest type, eh? That certainly helped her understand why Matt seemed to gravitate toward the guy. Shiro then peered over his shoulder and motioned the sulky figure behind him forward. “Keith, don’t be rude. Come here and say hello.”

He perked up, surprised for a moment, before he grumbled and shifted closer, standing beside Shiro with a small huff. Matt offered his hand. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Keith. I’m Matt,”

Keith stared for a moment before taking the offered hand, revealing black leather gloves on his hands. “Likewise,” He said, a bit on the gruff side but not necessarily rude.

Matt seemed to take the response well enough, as he turned his attention back toward Katie. “And this is my sister, Katie. The two of you will be in the same class at the Garrison come August,”

She offered her hand, which he also took with a bit of hesitation. The look he gave her tipped her off that, much like her, he’d probably been told what their impromptu meeting was all about. She could tell he wasn’t impressed, which was fine by her; she wasn’t impressed by him, either. “It’s nice to meet you. My brother seems to have high expectations for where things between us will go, despite having never met you before,” She said in a gleefully sarcastic tone.

Matt glared at her. “Katie, you had one job,” He hissed softly.

Keith stared at her for a moment, dark purple orbs sparking with surprise at her words, before the corner of his lips twisted up in a small smirk. “Good to know I’m not the only one being led to believe that as well. Shiro kept going on about what a positive influence you’ll be on me,” He mused, which caused Shiro to flinch and clear his throat a bit. They released each other’s hands and looked at Shiro, a warm sensation spreading through her chest.

She hadn’t expected Keith to respond like that. She liked it.

“Why don’t we all go get settled and get to know each other a little better? Matt mentioned that you’ve been building your own surveillance equipment, Katie, and I was curious about how you’ve been going about that,” He said, choosing to ignore Kieht’s comment, while nodding his head toward a beat-up old pick-up truck that was settled just barely within the glow of the bonfire.

She chatted energetically about her process as they approached the truck – which she assumed belonged to one of the two men – and how she had made a deal with a gaggle of pre-teens in her neighborhood to get her parts. She paid them in cheap eats, free repairs on their bikes and chaperoning them to PG-13 films in exchange for them going through some of the neighbors trash cans to see if they’d thrown out any kind of electronic device. Matt had been mortified at her proud exclamation of her deal, while Shiro had flashed an uneasy smile and Keith had confessed being impressed by her intuitive nature. They all settled in the bed of the truck, which thankfully had a blanket set down on the bottom to help soften the perch, sitting in an odd diamond shape with their knees touching. Shiro and Matt sat on either side of her and Keith so that they were sitting across from one another.

Both men were impressed with her resourcefulness, which she appreciated, and occasionally they chimed in to ask extra questions. “So you seriously repurposed the engine of an electric can opener to use as a motor for a computer?” Keith asked with an amused grin.

“Not the computer, no. I used that as one of three motors to try and power this radio device I’ve been working on,”

Shiro tilted his head curiously. “Trying to get more radio stations at home?”

“No, I’m trying to make contact with aliens,” She said with a genuine grin. Matt groaned quietly beside her, smacking his forehead and letting his hand slowly slide down his face. She had suspected that he didn’t want her mentioning any of that, but she wasn’t exactly one for putting up a front. She didn’t see a point in lying about her intentions because, ultimately, she just knew that somehow, someway, she was going to prove everyone that doubted her wrong.

Shiro looked stricken by the statement before turning his attention back toward Keith. Keith’s eyes widened in awe at her before he started laughing. It wasn’t quiet, gentle laughter, either; it was deep and loud and she was certain his chest was rumbling. “Are you serious? You gave me a huge lecture about not talking about this kind of stuff because she wouldn’t be interested! Shiro, you liar!” Keith wheezed out, leaning against the taller man.

“Wait, you thought I wouldn’t be in to that?” She asked with a small laugh of her own.

“According to Shiro,” Keith said, starting to calm down and jabbing the other in the side, “a young lady such as yourself wouldn’t want to be bored with the ramblings of a paranoid teenage boy.”

Shiro cleared his throat. “Look, very few people in this program actually believe in aliens. I didn’t want you making a fool of yourself in front of your peers,” He said.

Katie scoffed a bit, lightly prodding Matt with her elbow. “You should have just asked this nerd. He could have told you all about my theories involving aliens and Big Foot,” She hummed.

“Maybe there was a reason I didn’t mention that, Katie,” Matt hissed out through his teeth.

“Thank God! Shiro refuses to acknowledge the truth that Big Foot is real!”

“How can you not believe in Big Foot? There’s evidence!”

“Grainy, shit-quality videos are not evidence, Katie!”

“Video evidence is video evidence! On top of that, there’s also pictures and audio records,” Keith chimed back in excitedly.

“Wait, audio recordings? Where did you find those?” Katie asked, practically bouncing in her seat.

Keith grinned and fished his phone from one of the pockets on his jacket. “Oh, man, I found them on this awesome website! They’ve got a lot of great stuff about Big Foot; even some stuff that proves that proves a connection between Big Foot and Yeti. Here, let me see if I can just-!” He was cut off by Shiro calmly plucking his phone from his hands.

Shiro carefully got up and stuffed Keith’s phone in his pocket. “Okay, that’s enough of that. Seriously, Keith, this kind of stuff is not normally to be talking about,” He said, hopping over the side of the truck.

Matt stood as well and hummed in agreement. “Shiro’s right, Katie. You’re going to be an adult soon; you’ve got to put these childish beliefs of yours behind you. Now, we’re gonna go get some more drinks real fast. When he we get back, we expect the conversation to be one a bit more grounded,” He said seriously.

She reached out and grabbed his arm as he prepared to jump over the side of the truck. “Wait, Mattie, I’m cold,” She said softly.

He paused, looking at her in surprise for a second, before a fond smile turned up on his lips and he straightened up. “Sheesh. I warned you to bring a jacket with you. It gets kinda chilly this far out at night, you know,” He said, reaching up to unzip his own jacket, but his tone carried no ill will to it. He shrugged it off and handed it to her, which she eagerly accepted and bundled herself up.

“Thank you,” She said, flashing him a small smile. He ruffled her hair and then jumped over the edge of the truck, fast on Shiro’s heels. She watched them go, watching as they disappeared in the growing crowd of people, her smile slowly turning into a smirk.

Just as she opened her mouth to speak, she heard the soft jingle of keys and Keith musing, “So, wanna finish this conversation a bit more relaxed?”

She looked at him in surprise before her smirk returned. “Ah, so this is your truck?”

“Nope,” He beamed while crawling out. He offered his hand to help her get down and led her toward the passenger side. “I snagged the keys from Shiro, though. He always keeps them in his back pocket, so they’re always just teetering on the edge of falling out.” He opened the door and slipped into the cab before offering her his hand again. “Sorry, the driver’s side lock is broken so it doesn’t unlock.”

“Does the window still roll down?” She asked as they buckled up.

“Yeah, but I wasn’t gonna climb in. That’s just ridiculous,”

“How do you feel about fries and milkshakes?”

“Hmm. I may have an affinity for both, but I currently lack financial means to purchase either,”

“Oh, I’ve got us covered on that front,” She hummed, rummaging through the pocket of her brother’s jacket. She waved Matt’s wallet in the open space between them with one brow quirked smugly.

Keith blinked then smirked, starting the car. “Then I guess fries, milkshakes and conspiracy theories are on the menu tonight!”

…

After a quick trip to a nearby burger joint, they found a nice spot to park the truck at. It overlooked a small gorge and the wide, open expanse of desert sky. They settled in the bed again, sitting all the way back with their legs stretched in front of them, the grease-stained bag settled between them to hold the fries, as well as the lids they’d removed from their shakes.

Katie swatted his hand away when Keith reached over to try and dunk one of his fries in her milkshake. “Excuse you, pal-a-roo-ski! Do I look like the kind of girl that just lets a guy she just met dip his fries in her shake?” She laughed lightly.

He snickered slightly. “No, you seem like the kind of girl that will happily commit grand theft auto and identity theft with a guy she just met,”

“Um, you’re totally embellishing some of that. For one, grand theft auto is kind of an exaggeration here. I’d say it’s more like fair theft auto, really. And is it really identity theft if the cashier didn’t even as to see any identification? I mean, that’s more them slacking on their job,”

“Okay, alright, I’ll yield in regards to the identity theft, but I’m holding my guns on the grand theft auto point. You see, the aspect of the vehicle being grand comes more in the personal investment and attachment of the owner to the vehicle. Shiro spent three months basically putting this truck together himself; ergo, the truck is of grand importance to him,” He argued playfully.

She laughed and leaned closer to him so that their shoulders were touching. “Touché, Keith. Shall we agree to keep the grand theft auto charges and drop the identity theft charges, then?” She giggled back, tossing a fry in her mouth.

“It seems we’ve reached a compromise, then,” He chuckled, tilting his head back and looking up at the sky. A comfortable silence – of which Katie had never experienced with someone outside of her own family before – settled between them for a bit, filled in by the soft sounds of crickets and other desert wildlife. “You know, I’m not really all that interested in being a pilot.”

She perked up and glanced at him curiously. He didn’t turn to look at her –perhaps afraid of what he’d see in her gaze – and she could see the sky reflected perfectly in his eyes. She blinked once before turning her gaze upwards as well. “Then why attend the Garrison?”

“Because, I just… I… I feel like I’m destined for something… Greater than all this, you know? I can’t explain it any better than that, but I just feel like if I follow this route… If I go down this path in front of me… That all the pieces will come together and suddenly I’ll have all the answers I need, you know?” His voice was taught and thick with a mix of frustration and nervousness, fearing that she’d label him crazy. He was naturally gifted when it came to flying and he always felt like the stars were calling him; where to, he wasn’t sure, but to something greater than Earth.

He tore his gaze away from the sky to look at her when he felt one of her hands settle on his, a small smile on her lips.

“I kinda know what you mean. I mean, about feeling like there’s something calling you somewhere else. I don’t know if it’s exactly the same, but… I get it. I feel that way about my research into the other life forms lurking somewhere out in the galaxy,” She said, her tone gentle yet sturdy with conviction. She squeezed his hand gently. “I mean, maybe I’m not the best person to give out this kind of advice, but I think you should do what feels right.”

He blinked and smiled, gentle and genuine, and nodded his head. She smiles back, squeezing his hand once, before turning her attention back to her milkshake. She caught the tail end of a fry departing her shake to be tossed into Keith’s mouth, his lips quirked up in a self-satisfied grin as he chewed.

“Oh, you are just the worst kind of mooch, you know that?” She laughed, playfully shoving him as he tried to dip a new fry.

“Milkshakes were meant to have fries dipped in them! We agreed on this before we even ordered!” He laughed back.

“And you’ve got a perfectly good milkshake of your own for dipping!” She retorted, still laughing, as she turned away and tried to curl her body around her drink in defense.

“My milkshake is strawberry, though; everybody knows that strawberry is a sipping milkshake and chocolate is a dipping milkshake!”

“If it’s such basic knowledge then maybe you should have picked the right flavor!”

Keith opened his mouth, some sort of quip on the tip of his tongue, before they both jumped at the sound of a car horn and the flash of headlights closing in on them. They stood and peered over the roof of the truck’s cab to see a Jeep approaching – a Jeep that was all too familiar to Katie – and she groaned quickly. “Aw, man, it’s the fun police,” She groaned softly.

“Huh, I didn’t even hear the sirens,” He hummed with a small smirk as the Jeep screeched to a halt just in front of the truck.

His comment got him a poorly hidden snort. “Dude,” She grinned as the sound of the heavy doors being slammed shut and rushed footfalls kicked up in front of them.

“Katie, get down here now!” Matt snapped angrily, his ears a little red with his frustrations. A small pang of guilt struck her for a moment at the pure outrage on her brother’s face as she took a tentative sip at her milkshake. “What were you thinking? You shouldn’t be running off with someone else’s car to go snogging with some guy you just met!”

“Snogging?” She parroted in mild disbelief.

“It means making out,” Keith chimed in with a displeased frown.

“Oh, I’m aware,” She said with a half-laugh, looking form him to her brother. A quick once-over was all it took for her to spot some very significant marks peppering his neck and collarbone. She shifted, her arms resting along the edge of the truck and leaning over the bed slightly, her lips turning up in a slightly smug grin. “And, honestly, this feels like a bad conversation to be having with you. I mean, your hypocrisy is showing, bro.”

“Literally,” Keith added with a small chuckle, motioning to the obvious hickies along Matt’s neck.

Matt let out an indignant huff as Shiro walked over behind him, a scowl on his own features. He held one hand out toward the younger male expectantly, while offering the other to Katie to help her get down from the truck. “I think you two have had enough adventure tonight, don’t you?” He asked evenly.

“I think we made a mistake in introducing them, Shiro,” Matt grumbled out quietly, plucking off his glasses and rubbing the spot between his eyes gently.

Shiro flashed a small, apologetic smile as Katie sidled up beside her brother, offering back his jacket without a trace of remorse or shame, before looking back at his brother as he handed over the keys. “We’re going to have a serious talk about this on the way home, you know,” He said.

Keith grunted vaguely in acknowledgement, flashing a small smirk at her as she let Matt lead her back to his Jeep. She grinned back, flashing a vague thumbs up, before turning her head and pretending to listen to Matt’s angry rambling.

She was starting to look forward to what her life at the Garrison would be like with Keith around.


	2. It's Time for Our Little Talks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keidge Week 2016 Day Two Prompt Fill. Season 2 speculations. Short drabble about an uncertain leader Keith and loyal guard dog Pidge.

Tensions in the castle had been running on high for a while now yet somehow she was keeping her wits about her.

Shiro had flown the coop a few weeks ago, disappearing into a suspicious looking portal to accomplish God knew what, and his parting words had been a simply request that Keith succeed him in leading the team and piloting Black Lion. The whole team had been put on edge over the departure and the newly appointed leader himself had seemed less than thrilled. If she was honest, his face had been a portrait of horror and agony; as to why, she had a few theories but kept them to herself. Lance had been put-off that Shiro would pick Keith to succeed him, claiming that Keith was far too impulsive and callous for such a high ranking position. For once, Lance’s argument against Keith actually carried some real weight with quite a few exhibits as evidence to those statements.

Allura, however, had decided that they would proceed as Shiro requested, with she herself filling in as the Red Paladin until they could track Shiro down and bring him back.

The switch had occurred three weeks ago and already she could see how the chaffing of the new dynamics were affecting everyone; the Lions themselves included. Red was a temperamental brat whom had refused to let Allura anywhere near her cockpit for the first forty-eight hours after their final decision had been reached, her behavior as petulant as a child in the supermarket stomping their feet over not getting the candy bar they wanted. Keith had ended up having to spend a whole three hours settled in Red’s cockpit and coaxing her into accepting the temporary arrangements. Blue seemed to feel betrayed that Lance would entertain the idea of piloting another lion and started taking some caddy approaches to make her anger known during their training sessions; shutting down mid-flight or firing her ice canon instead of a regular laser seemed to be her favorites, as they were the ones that got the biggest reactions out of her Paladin. Yellow, much like Hunk, was trying to stay out of the way of the others and just take on as many extra duties as possible to compensate for Red and Blue going rogue. Black seemed to have accepted Keith as her pilot, as she didn’t fight him or question his orders, but it was only because Black knew that sometimes the greater good had to come first.

Green simply kept Pidge up to date on what was going on in the minds of the other Lions and followed her Paladin’s lead.

“If you had any strong feelings either way, I would most likely act in accordance to that, but you are relatively indifferent to this whole situation. So long as your loyalties lie where they do, so shall mine,” Green had explained at Pidge’s questioning. This hadn’t surprised her, really, and she appreciated Green’s candor. For Pidge, Keith being the leader really meant nothing different to her. Of her teammates, Shiro and Keith were the two she trusted the most; they both respected and understood her in a way that the others simply didn’t. She followed Shiro because he was someone with the fortitude and skill and ability to lead. She followed Keith because she could see the fledgling beginnings of those same attributes in him – though he certainly needed some more fine tuning in how to deal with people – and she trusted him to think more of the whole than the individual units after the fall out from his attempt to take down Zarkon with only Red. Those past facts loomed over his head despite the other Paladins falling in line – with only the occasional grumblings from Lance – and acclimating to the new order. And any mutiny spoken when Keith wasn’t around? She normally dealt with herself.

If Lance or Hunk or Allura were the leader, she would still follow them, but she’d be less inclined to speak up on their behalf.

She knew why Keith wavered and questioned his abilities as a leader, but she felt this was more than a simple case of self-doubt. No, this was about losing the only person he had left in the whole world all over again. She knew that sinking feeling all too well; like drowning in a river, only persistent burning sensation that came with would flare up and die down however it saw fit. He wasn’t afraid of being leader, but more torn asunder by the circumstances behind his promotion. She understood where that could pose a whole other set of challenges for someone already having to step into a position they hadn’t exactly been planning to take.

After the training session that day, she had slunk off to the hanger, as per usual.

She was looking over some coding for some upgrades to the lions shields – specifically for Yellow and Green, as they were the ones whom usually did the most defensively – when she heard footfalls approaching. She stayed where she was, focused on her work, knowing full well who was coming to join her. He fell behind her, his arms weaving around her waist and his face pressing into the spot between her shoulder blades. She remained relaxed and at ease, one hand shifting from the printed forms in her hands to gently stroke from his wrist up to his elbow and back down. “I tripped Lance during training today,” She said casually.

“I noticed that,” He grumbled softly, nuzzling into her gently.

“I totally meant to do it, too,”

“And why’s that?”

“He stole my headphones. Again,”

“I’ll try talking to him again. Maybe this time he’ll listen,”

“Don’t bother. I kinda like getting to retaliate with little pranks like this,” She smiled, then tilted her head back a bit. The back of her head rested against the top of his. “Wanna know a secret?”

“Hmm?”

“You’re a great leader,” She mused, gently taking his hand in her own. He squeezed tightly and mumbled something softly against the back of her shirt, but she couldn’t quite make it out. It didn’t really matter, though; she knew it was some confession of what he was afraid or what he considered his shortcomings.

Keith needed a safe place to fall apart and she was fine with being that place. She would keep his secrets hidden in the space he occupied between her shoulders, where they’d be safe and sound.


	3. Quiet Before the Storm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keidge Week 2016 Day Three Prompt Fill. Post-series fic that is Keith-centric. Specifically Keith dealing with an unresponsive school staff and comforting he and Pidge’s lil’ grumplings. Includes OCs in the form of fan children for Keith and Pidge.

Keith Kogane had never driven as fast as he did after he got the call; not back when he was retreating from liberating – kidnapping - Shiro from the Garrison or even any of the times in battle as a Paladin of Voltron. He stumbled into the front office, grabbing the counter and looking panicked at the woman at the desk. “Can I help you?” She asked, her tone far too patient and relaxed for his peace of mind. Loud, hysterical wails could be heard from an open door to Keith’s left – the nurse’s office – and he could feel dread and fear crawling faster from his gut to his chest.

“I’m Keith Kogane. I was just called and told there was an emergency-!” He started to say frantically before one of the doors behind the front desk opened. A middle-aged man with a bit of a gut and salt-and-pepper hair stepped out, dressed in a crisp button-up and tan slacks. Walking just in front of him were two familiar mops of dark hair that looked wildly different than Keith recalled seeing them that morning.

“Perfect timing, Mr. Kogane. I do apologize for calling you in from work, but I’m afraid your wife didn’t answer when we tried her number,” He said calmly, gently ushering the two children around the desk with him. The minute the smaller child – Newt, as he preferred to be called – looked up through his bangs and saw Keith, he was running for him. The older man gently knelt and scooped him up, alarm bells going off at the swelling around his left eye and the tear-tracks stained onto his chubby little cheeks. When he picked him up and gently stroked his head to try and soothe him, Newt flinched a bit and whined, the beginnings of a nicely sized bump cropping up under Keith’s fingertips. “Normally if I don’t get an immediate response in situations such as this, I’ll wait a bit longer before trying the primary contact number again, but Kaden was insistent against calling her.”

“I told him Ari’s been sick and needs to sleep,” The other boy grumbled as he approached as well, his voice uncharacteristically nasally. He looked up at the other and gawked, seeing he was in even worse shape. His left eye was swollen as well, but there was also dark crusting around his nose – which explained why his voice sounded like he had a head cold – with bruises starting to also form on his right cheek, the bottom right side of his chin, bruises that looked like grab marks on either of his forearms, and scratch marks streaking multiple places on his neck and disappearing under the collar of his Iron Man t-shirt. Keith gave his older son a once over, confusion and anger starting to run rampant in his chest, before meeting his son’s gaze. His dark eyes were shining bright with conviction and a bit of pride over whatever had caused his injuries.

He reached over and ran one hand through Kaden’s hair, pushing his bangs up and over gently, before looking back up at the principal. “Care to explain what happened?” He asked.

The prinicipal nodded and cleared his throat, leaning over to speak quietly to the secretary for a second. She nodded before heading over to a few folders along the back counter of her work space and starting to fill out two identical packets. He recognized those forms from his own youth, having been given them more times than he cared to remember. “I’m afraid Kaden and Oliver are being suspended for bullying and fighting on school grounds,” He said, his tone level and indifferent.

He blinked twice before scowling. “Excuse me? Look, I know my boys, and they can certainly be little trouble makers every now and again, but neither of them would intentionally antagonize or attack another child,” He argued gently.

“Mr. Kogane, no parent wants to believe that their child is capable of being bad, but that is what happened,” He said calmly. The secretary handed him the two packets then. He started skimming them to verify what was written. “It started as a situation between Oliver and an older boy named Frank Gulliver, which escalated into violence. Kaden then jumped in and only instigated even more violence. It took three teachers and a playground monitor to tear them all apart, and Kaden refuses to apologize to young Frank for what happened.”

Frank Gulliver was a name that Keith had grown to know quite well in the last few weeks since the school year had started. He was a third grade student – one grade above Kaden and a whole three above Newt – who seemed to think that he owned the playground. Most of the younger children would just do whatever he wanted whenever he said, but Newt had actually smarted off in response to his intimidation tactics and ever since, Frank and his gang had made terrorizing the poor kindergartener their life’s mission. Up until this point, it was mostly name-calling and smaller playground transgressions that had he and Pidge both angry but wanting to be rational. Nearly every day after school, he and Pidge tried talking with the vice-principal or school counselor – since the principal was typically already gone for the day at that point – about their concern for their youngest son’s safety. The school staff had assured them time and again that something would be done, despite things only seeming to escalate.

He narrowed his eyes at the principal, as this certainly wasn’t the something he had been hoping for.

“I think that you’re directing your punishments in the wrong direction, sir,” He said coolly, straightening back up. Newt shifted against him, his arms weaving around Keith’s neck and hiding his face into his shoulder with a small whimper. Newt was a bright kid who, while occasionally a little too big for his britches, was enthusiastic and outgoing and loved getting to explore. He had inherited his mother’s passion for the unknown and curious nature but the bullying had started to affect that drastically. He had become a bit more reserved and timid around things that were unfamiliar. To see the spark in his younger son’s honey colored eyes snuffed out filled him with an anger he couldn’t quite describe.

The principal paused in leaning over the desk to grab a pen and stood back up, regarding Keith with a small scowl and unamused glint to his dark eyes. “Considering your son broke another child’s nose and potentially sprained his wrist? And considering the teachers told me that it seemed your son knew some very specific moves to cause that kind of damage? I’m rather curious where he learned such a thing. No, Mr. Kogane, I don’t think my punishments need to be redirected. Your son,” He says accusingly, pointing down at Kaden, “made the choice to attack another student instead of getting a grown-up to come take care of it. That was his decision and he needs to suffer the consequences as such.”

Kaden refused to wilt under the principal’s words, however, and reared his head up to glare defiantly at the old man, little tears starting to well in the corners of his eyes. “They don’t do nothin’ when I tell them! Frankie shoved Newt down and made him hit his head with the playground lady right there! Newt was crying and crying and she wasn’t going to help him!” He shouted angrily, little fists clenched at his side and his jaw set.

Keith felt a strange mix of fatherly pride and paternal fury swell inside him at his son’s declaration.

He reached out and gently guided Kaden back to him, pressing his son’s head against his leg. Kaden hid his face into his father’s leg and sniffled quietly, relaxing as Keith gently rubbed the back of his neck to help him settle a bit. “So what you’re saying, essentially, is that you’re punishing my children because one of them was being aggressively bullied – with yourstaff being made well aware of the situation and refusing to step in, despite both my wife and I reaching out multiple times about our concerns – and the other finally stepped in to protect his baby brother? Because he felt he had to intervene because your staff is either so incompetent or so indifferent to the well-being of your student body that they couldn’t keep one little brat from terrorizing his peers?” He spat back.

The principal looked alarmed for a moment, his face flushing a bit in either rage or embarrassment, before he glared again. “Mr. Kogane, I don’t think you fully understand the situ-!”

“You’re right, maybe I don’t. My wife has been much more involved with the communications with your staff than I. If you don’t mind, I’ll simply have her call you on the matter. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d appreciate if you could have my son’s things brought here so I can take them home,” He cut off the other man off, his tone curt and spiteful. The principal didn’t seem to see the point in arguing with him further and didn’t even bother to ask Keith to sign the paperwork, which he appreciated.

He wouldn’t have signed them, anyway; those forms always demanded that the parent whose child was being suspended agreed that their child was at fault.

He settled in at one of the small chairs by the office doors and hoisted Kaden with him, settling each of them on one of his thighs, as they waited for the school security guard to go get their school bags and lunch pails from their respective classrooms. Newt remained slumped against him, while Kaden stayed sitting upright, slowly lifting his head to look at his father, eyes curious and cautious. Keith took a deep breath before looking down at his sons, a small smile turning up on his lips. “Now, I want you both to know that you’re not going to be in trouble for this. You tried to do things the way you know you’re supposed to before actually trying to handle it yourselves,” He said patiently.

“Really? You’re not mad?” Kaden sniffled lightly, though Keith suspected that it had more to do with his still-tender nose than being close to tears again.

“Neither of you did anything wrong so it doesn’t make sense for me to be angry or punish you. Newt, you have every right to say what you think – within reason, of course – and it isn’t far that a bigger kid was bullying you into staying quiet or doing what he wanted. And it’s even less okay that he actively tried to hurt you into doing what he wanted and that none of the teachers did anything to help you,” He said, gently squeezing Newt in a side hug. Newt sniffled a bit and nodded, nuzzling into him again. He then smiled at Kaden and gently pushed his bangs out of his face with his other hand. “And Kaden, you did everything right, too. You tried to get a grown-up to help with what happened. It’s not your fault that none of them would listen to you; the blame is on them for not listening or trying to help. Though you probably should have used some of the self-defense moves I taught you to get him to leave you alone.”

“Frankie is, like, way bigger than me and he was charging at me. That’s the only reason I used those moves,” He said gently, but a little smile had wormed its way on to his face.

“It looked really cool, too!” Newt chimed in, a bit of his usual energy creeping back into his tone.

Keith laughed lightly and pulled both of them closer to him, ignoring the dirty looks the secretary shot his way. “Well, then I guess we can let it slide even more, huh?” He hummed.

Kaden grinned then blinked worriedly. “Is Mama gonna me mad at us?” He asked.

Keith shook his head. “Not at all. In fact, I think your Mama’s gonna be really mad at the principal instead. And we all know how Mama can be when she’s mad,” He said, lowering his voice to avoid being overheard. Both boys’ faces scrunched up at the thought and Keith swore he felt Newt shudder at the thought. “I’ll talk with Mama about what happened, and then she’ll talk to the school and get this all sorted out. We’ll probably transfer you to a new school, though; one that has better teachers and a staff that actually cares about its students.” He made sure to raise his volume as he spoke the last sentence, wanting to drive home the point that a line had been crossed.

“Where would we go instead?” Newt piped.

“Well, that academy Raya goes to seems to be pretty good, according to Uncle Lance and Uncle Hunk,” He mused lightly. The other two had settled down as well and had two little ones of their own using a surrogate; a daughter and a son, named Raya and Declan respectively. Raya was genetically Lance’s and had inherited a bit of her father’s smugness and… Charm.

Kaden groaned quietly. “But do we gotta? Raya is so annoying,” He grumbled quietly.

Keith chuckled lightly. “Well, it’s just a thought for now. First we need to talk to your Mama when we get home and see what she has to say,” He said, relaxing a bit more as his children settled back against him.

The school apparently wanted the challenge of going toe-to-toe with the Green Paladin, and Keith was more than happy to watch the fray happen.


	4. Close Quarters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keidge Week 2016 Day Four Prompt Fill. Neighbors!AU in which Pidge finds Keith’s missing pet and helps him take care of her.

It was the sound of quiet, disgruntled growling that caught her attention as she walked toward her apartment building.

She readjusted her grip on her umbrella and looked at the small cluster of shrubs next to the steps. The noise seemed to be coming from there, and grew louder as she leaned closer to get a better look. She shifted the branches around some only to be greeted by a drenched ball of fur hissing up at her. “Well, I didn’t expect to see you,” She mused, recognizing the little animal immediately.

A few days prior, when Pidge had been checking her mail, she had first seen the posting on the corkboard.

The corkboard was the primary way the apartment staff liked to pass their messages along, as well as where other tenants posted passive-aggressive messages to one another. As of yet, she hadn’t been targeted by either of her immediate neighbors for a noise complaint – Mrs. Johnson in 237 being nearly deaf and the guy in 239 seeming to be too apathetic – so normally she never bothered to look. But she had dropped her mail key and had to pick it up, the gust of air from the act causing the little tear-off ends of the flyer to shift and catch her eye.

The corners of the flyer were covered by other postings but a picture of a very fluffy cat with strange markings in the center caught her eye. It was a red-orange color over most of its body, but its front paws were snowy white with a small stripe of black between the white and red of its pelt, and its tail matched the front paws in coloration. Its back legs up to its thighs were pure black, as well at the fur around its little nose being black and its lower jaw being white, and the cat was staring at the camera with large, bright golden eyes. A purple collar with a flower, small silver bell and golden tags was fastened around the cat’s neck. She tilted her head in curiosity at the picture – briefly wondering if it was photoshopped or something – before she turned her eyes to the text listed beneath the picture.

**Missing Cat: Vixie, but will also respond to Vix. Spayed female. Wears break-away collar; tags are out of date due to moving to area recently. Went missing Wednesday; either in the late morning or early afternoon. If found or spotted, please call the listed number.**

She frowned, her mind calling up her own waggle-tailed little pooch back home with her parents. Gunther had never gotten outside before but she could feel a twinge of sympathy at the flyer; especially when she looked at the tear-off strips with the number attached and saw only one missing. It had been Sunday morning, but considering there were a few other postings covering some of the top portions, it had to have been there for at least a day or two. She tore off one of the little strips and shoved it in her pocket. She figured at least that way, if she happened to see the little cat, she could get in touch with the owner.

She didn’t expect to encounter the cat only three days later.

The little cat was completely soaked, her collar was missing and her fur was matted and dirty. There were some small cuts and scrapes visible on her little nose, some small missing patches of fur on her neck where her collar had been, and the fur of her left front paw was crusted over with blood. “You’ve really had quite the adventure, haven’t you?” She asked while reaching out one hand to pick her up.

Vixie’s response was to hiss loudly, swatting at her with her right paw, and curl even further in on herself. She was wedged between the root of the bush and the apartment building itself, clearly hoping the spot would be a bit safer and drier than wherever she’d been before. Pidge pulled her hand back and scowled slightly, narrowly avoiding getting clawed. “Well, if you’re gonna be like this to me, let’s see if we can’t get a hold of your owner for some better luck,” She mumbled, resting her umbrella against her shoulder so she could rummage through her coat pocket. Thankfully there’d been a cold front recently so she’d been wearing her jacket, where she’d shoved the number she’d taken from the flyer. She dialed it up quickly then held the phone to her ear. While she waited for an answer, she pulled the hood of her jacket over her head and held the umbrella over where Vixie was curled, hoping that being better shielded from the rain would help the little cat perk up.

“What do you want?” The voice was that of a male and sounded none-too-thrilled at being called.

“Uh, hey, I’m calling about Vixie the cat,” She said, trying not to snap at him about his attitude.

“Vixie? What about her? Did you see her? Where and when?” He asked, suddenly sounding a bit anxious.

She shook her head at the drastic mood whiplash she was getting from the guy. “Actually, I found her hiding in a bush by my apartment building. I tried to pick her up to get her out of the rain, but she’s too scared and aggressive; looks like she might have some injuries, too, that are making her extra testy. Any way you could come get her?” She held the phone to her ear with her shoulder and moved the branches again to make sure Vixie was still there, as she’d stopped growling. Bright eyes glared up at her and a low, threatening rumble of a growl were her answer.

“Ah, yeah, I’m on my way home now; should be there in about ten minutes. What apartment building is it?” He asked quickly.

“The back side of building 2, facing the pool,” She said.

“Perfect; I live in that building. I’ll grab her cat carrier and meet you there as soon as possible,” He said before hanging up.

Pidge frowned before shoving her phone back in her pocket. “That was pretty presumptuous of him, assuming I have nothing better to do than watch after you,” She grumbled, glancing back down at the drenched feline. She growled back up at her and Pidge shook her head. “Such an ornery little thing… Hopefully you’ll cheer up once your human gets here. And a trip to the vet and a bath.”

She sat and watched Vixie as she awaited the owner’s arrival, the cat slowly settling down and just watching Pidge suspiciously. She chatted a little bit just to have something to do and found it admittedly cute how the cat would blink slowly whenever she asked a question, as if the little animal was answering. She peered into the hallway of the building when she saw her neighbor – the tenant in apartment 239 – rushing into his apartment from the opposite entrance of the building, not even bothering to shut his door all the way. There was the sound of rummaging around, boxes being moved, and then he reemerged with a fabric bag of sorts. It was smaller than a duffel bag but seemed to be made of a similar material, with a mesh screen mouth left hanging open and two black fabric handles hanging from the top, with a leopard-print pattern to the material. He rounded the corner and stopped right beside her. “Vixie’s hiding in there?” He asked, peering over her shoulder to look at the cat.

Vixie’s ear twitched at the sound of his voice and she lifted her head, letting out a quiet and admittedly adorable mewl.

His dark eyes softened immediately when Vixie meowed at him. “Oh, Vix, you’ve had a terrible streak of luck out here, haven’t you?” He asked, his tone a soft and soothing coo. Pidge had never really talked with 239 before but what little she understood of him was that he was a quiet, private person. He came off as aloof and cold, usually wearing a mask of indifference whenever they passed one another in the hallway. To see someone she had pegged as being as much of a shut-in as she tended to be showing a soft side to a very small and very vulnerable creature left a warm feeling in chest.

She shifted her attention back to 239 and cleared her throat. “What can I do to help?” She asked.

He perked up in surprise, seeming to have forgotten she was even there, before nodding. He offered the bag to her. “Can you hold her cat carrier for me while I get her?” He asked.

She slid back a bit to give him more room to work with. He leaned over, cooing gently at the small cat. There was a brief struggle before he wheeled around and nudged the thrashing cat into the carrier. Pidge held tight to it as he zipped the mesh opening closed, both of them standing up and ignoring Vixie’s protesting cries. “There’s a vet’s office not too far from here. A friend of mine helps out there during the week; I can take you there if you want,” She offered, holding the carrier out to him.

“I’d appreciate it. Thanks,” He said calmly before letting her lead the way to her car. Once they were both buckled in and she was backing out, she saw him unzip a portion of the carrier and slip his hand in, settling it on top of Vixie’s head and gently rubbing behind her little ears. Vixie shifted a bit, pressing into his hand, and reached up to settle her good paw along his wrist.

“You must have been really worried about her,” Pidge commented gently.

He glanced at her before looking back at the little bag in his lap. “Yeah… I’ve had her for a while so she’s really important to me, you know?” He said.

“I have a dog that lives with my parents that I love to pieces. When I saw the flyer… Well, I knew I had to take the number in case I saw her,” She said, turning out of the complex and on to the main road. The rain seemed to be dying down, which she appreciated; she’d been too lazy to go buy new windshield wipers over the weekend. “How did she get out, anyway?”

He snorted slightly, scowling at the thought. “I had filed a maintenance request for a dripping faucet in my kitchen. When I first moved here, I signed a sheet saying that maintenance crew was _only_ to go into my apartment to make repairs when I was present; they _apparently didn’t listen to that_. Vixie gets really territorial when people she doesn’t recognize get too close, so she started biting at the guy’s ankle when he came in. He yelled and shook her off, which probably startled her, and she ran out the open front door,” He grumbled angrily. Vixie lets out a little half-hearted mewl at the change in his tone, almost as if she were reprimanding him for losing his temper, which caused his lips to turn back up in a half-smile. “Sorry, Vix, I’ll settle down.”

Pidge watched the two of them from the corner of her eye, fascinated by the strange exchange between owner and pet. “She’s got quite the personality to her. She was so pissy when I found her but she’s a completely different cat with you,”

“Vixie can be downright sweet once she warms up to you, but she’s really cautious of people,” He said calmly. He waved his free hand in the air slightly. “I don’t know the specifics, but I got her when she was just a kitten about three years ago, and they said they took her from a hoarder’s house. Constant fighting with other cats for food, constant filth and neglect, and very limited interaction with people; Shiro said she’d be a good fit for me since neither of us really like people that much. I only got her because my therapist said that having the responsibility of a pet might help settle me down or something. I wouldn’t say he was completely right about that, but something about having her around helps me feel calm and secure. And I guess that feeling is mutual, huh, pretty girl?” He mused, his tone going back to cooing toward the end. His hand on her head shifted down to scratch beneath her chin, causing her to purr as loudly as she could.

Pidge smiled as she watched them, a bit flattered that this stranger trusted her with somewhat private information. The rest of the drive to the clinic was had in comfortable silence, with only the sound of Vixie’s purrs and meows to fill the void, and thankfully Allura was working when they arrived. The clinic had an opening and she headed back to prepare an exam room. Pidge helped 239 with filling in the worker behind the counter of what exactly was wrong with Vixie, 239 also filing out the first-time patient forms with an impressive level of thoroughness. Upon realizing where, precisely, they were, Vixie began making noises that were the _least_ cat-like sounds Pidge had ever heard _any_ animal make, and even her poor owner couldn’t console her. “Sorry,” 239 said shyly as Allura led them into one of the exam rooms, “she’s had a rough couple of days and she really doesn’t like the doctor.”

Allura smiled and nodded, her expression sympathetic. “Let’s see if we can’t help perk her back up a little bit then, hm?” She mused reassuringly. She patted the small metal table in the center of the room for 239. “Now, go on ahead and set her carrier here and pull her out. We do need to do a basic examination of her injuries, and the doctor wants us to do the typical new patient work-up.”

Even as she settled into one of the two chairs in the corner of the room and watched Allura give Vixie the initial checks – wincing in sympathy when 239 had to hold the poor cat down to get her temperature taken – Pidge wasn’t she why she was still there. Part of her rationalized that it might be a sense of responsibility in assuring that 239 got home in one piece but she’d once ditched a good friend of hers in a Taco Bell parking lot after assessing that he wasn’t quite as drunk as he’d let on. Once the basic check-up was completed, Vixie flopping against 239’s chest tiredly and letting out the most pathetic yowl Pidge had ever heard, she realized that it was because it’s what she would want in this situation.

Her mind pulled up all the memories of the times that Gunther had been a loyal pet to her, how he always seemed to know when she had a rough day. He would drop his head along her thighs and let out a quiet little half-howl to get her attention. If she ignored that, he’d swat at her knee with one paw until she’d finally pet him and then he’d crawl all over her, licking her and wagging his tail and insisting in cuddling her fears and stress away. He wouldn’t stop until she was begging him to through giggles, and then he’d settle for being cuddled around her, staying close in case melancholy washed back over her.

239 mentioned that he’d just barely moved out here and that Vixie’s presence was a comfort for him. If the apartment and Pidge’s clustered school-and-work schedule would have permitted it, she would have brought Gunther with her too. And what would she have done, in this situation? If Gunther had gotten out and got hurt and been found by a stranger, what would she hope to be done? What would she want that stranger to do for her in her distress?

She’d want them to stay with her until it was all over. So that, she decided, was why she was still here.

Dr. Haggar was quick and calm with her diagnosis for little Vixie; some minor scrapes, but a very deep laceration on her left paw and some worrisome teeth marks on her throat. “It will require a deep cleaning, as it is currently caked in mud, and the marks on her neck will need a similar treatment. From there we’ll be able to determine if she’ll need sutures and a cast and a collar cone while it heals,” She explained, gently stroking along Vixie’s back to help the cat relax. The tension remained, only soothing when 239 repeated the actions after Dr. Haggar. “She’ll have to stay overnight if we need to do the sutures, and I’ll need you to sign a consent form for it.”

“That’s fine. Would you like me to sign a consent for actually doing the procedure as well?” He asked gently.

She nodded. “That would certainly help us streamline the process. And, since you are a referral from Pidge, we can throw in a flea bath for free, if you’d like,” She offered.

He seemed stricken by the offer before rebounding. “Y-Yeah, I’d really appreciate it,” He said gently.

Dr. Haggar nodded again. “Give me just a moment to get those forms. I’ll have Allura come take Vixie to the back for us in the meantime, so if you could get her back in her carrier, it’d be greatly appreciated,” She said before slipping back out of the room.

239 was silent as he returned Vixie to her carrier and watched Allura take her away before slumping into the seat beside Pidge. “Thank you, by the way,” He said softly.

Pidge blinked then tilted her head. “Thanks for what?”

“For calling me. For staying with Vixie. For bringing us here. For staying this whole time. For _everything_ , really,” His shoulders slumped slightly and he shook his head. He turned to face her better, a small smile gracing his lips. “I… I just moved out here and I’m not particularly good at making friends. When Vixie got out, I was scared that no one would help find her since I haven’t really talked to anyone else in the complex. I mean, just yesterday I had to repost the flyer because someone else tore it down.”

“Well, then that just means they’re a dick. And my parents always told me to treat others how you would want to be treated, so, you know, you can thank them for me lending a hand, really,” She said, clearing her throat slightly to deflect from her slight embarrassment.  She wasn’t sure if it was the genuine gratitude in his voice or the fact that she was receiving a thank you at all that made her so embarrassed, but she could feel a bit of pink rising to her cheeks.

“Speaking of treating, I owe you for all the trouble. I get paid in a few days so I can give you some money for your help,” He offered.

She waved one hand at him dismissively. “Dude, don’t worry about it. I wanted to help out,”

“But I have to pay you back somehow,” He insisted with a small scowl.

What was this guy, a knight or something? Well, if he was going to twist her arm about it, she’d simply have to take him up. “Okay, then how about after we leave, you treat me to some pizza and breadsticks? I haven’t had dinner yet and that seems like a fair trade, don’t you think… Oh, what’s your name, by the way? I usually just refer to you by your apartment number, but that seems a little rude now,”

He snickered a bit at her derailing and offered her his hand. “If it makes you feel any better, I do the same thing. And my name’s Keith,”

She beamed at him and shook his hand eagerly. “Well, pleasure to meet you, Keith. Everyone calls me Pidge,”


	5. A Study in Relevancy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keidge Week 2016 Day Six Prompt Fill; not sure where my fill for Day 5 went but it wasn't there when I stared uploading. AU-ish. Everyone is born with a mark on their arms of the words their soulmate will say to them when they realize that are in love with them. Pidge and Keith end up with some interesting phrases.

It was her fifth birthday when her soul mark appeared, mere seconds after she’d blown out the candles on her cake. She felt the soft, tingling pressure of the words etching along her inner left arm, the sensation known from all the stories she’d been told from relatives and older children at school. It started at the bend of her elbow and shot straight down to her wrist, six words that shimmered a brilliant red that would be the definition to one of her more intimate relationships.

_We could get arrested for this._

As far as marks went, she had certainly heard of worse, but that did nothing to quill her mild disappointment. She had been secretly hoping for something sweeping and romantic like her older brother, Matt – _I have searched countless galaxies to find you_ – or even something more simple and practical but intimate like her father – _Don’t forget your scarf this morning, Samuel_ – but instead she got something that only made her pout. Matt had found it hilarious, muffling his snorts behind his hand, while a look of concern flashed in her father’s eyes.

Only Colleen, matriarch of the Holt household, seemed at peace with it. She knelt beside her young daughter, pulling a small fabric arm guard from her pocket to cover up the mark as was custom, to protect against people using the phrase incorrectly. She tugged the arm guard over her daughter’s soul mark with one hand while the other tucked a loose strand of copper locks behind an ear, smiling fondly at her. “You know, darling, tone can make a world of difference,” She said simply. The young girl stared at her mother, turning the words over in her mind, before beaming back at her, optimism cranked back up to full volume.

“I wonder what will prompt it though! What kind of person do you think they’ll be, Mama? Do you think they’ll be a really fun adventurous person, or a stick in the mud grumpy pants?” She asked excitedly.

Colleen giggled. “Well, whichever it is, they’ll be someone who completes you; the yin to your yang, as it were,” She mused back. Her daughter flashed another cheeky grin before she shoved her arm out to show her new coverings up, reveling in the excited squeals and awe she received.

The interest and concern for the words on her arm would wane and dissipate for Katie Holt. The words would be wholly ignored to become Pidge Gunderson and enthralled in bigger concerns than soul mates and movie dates.

……………………………………………………………………..

He was a little over six years old when his soul mark appeared on a rainy night. He had been up in his room, playing with some toys, while his babysitter was making dinner for him downstairs. His parents had gone out for dinner and a movie that night. It was an odd, tingling sensation that made his right arm itch that caused him to perk up, blinking and tilting his head curiously at the dark green letters appearing on his skin, creeping down from his wrist towards his elbow. His brow knitted together and he made his way downstairs to the kitchen, keeping his eyes glued to the phrase on his arm.

_If we both stick to the story, they can’t prove anything._

Angie, the friendly teenage girl from next door that had been charged with watching him that night, had tilted her head curiously as he walked out, saying nothing but simply holding his arm out at her. “What’s wrong, buddy? Did you get hurt?” She asked worriedly, moving to grab the first aid kit they kept in the cabinet by the sink.

“No, look,” He insisted quietly, scowling at her overreaction. She walked back over and blinked in surprise at the sight of the words.

“Huh, that’s certainly an interesting mark,” She said with a small laugh.

“Seems like trouble,” He said with a small scowl, the idea unappealing to him; he was, after all, a very good boy with good grades and good manners.

“Well, maybe they mean it like a joke or something,” Angie said, ruffling his hair and standing. She opted not to tell him what puberty and high school would most likely have in store for him – simply for the sake of his pride and innocence – and went back to stirring the macaroni. “I’m sure your parents will be thrilled when they see it. Now go wash up; dinner’s almost done. Then we’ll get that mark covered up until your parents get home.” He smiled a bit and nodded, heading off to do as he was told. His parents would certainly have an idea of what to expect, and would be thrilled he had finally gotten his mark.

That night, however, his parents never made it home. From that day forward, Keith Kogane kept his soul mark hidden under extra layers and gloves, not wanting to see the reminder of a message he never got to share with his parents.

……………………………………………………………………..

It started out as nothing more than casual interest on her part, really.

She found herself drawn in by the walking enigma that was Keith Kogane, Red Paladin and second in command of the team. She had watched him for a while before her curiosity caused her to start seeking him out and engaging with him. Their friendship was a bit of an odd one but she was grateful for it all the same because it was so drastically different than the ones she shared with the other Paladins. She appreciated the times she and Shiro spent one-on-one, but she couldn’t help but see him as a stand-in for Matt; whether due to her own hang-ups or intentional actions on Shiro’s part, she wasn’t sure. Hunk was someone she could talk shop with who could keep up with her, and Lance was someone she could banter and bicker at without any concern of genuine conflict arising. She had learned over the time they’d spent together that she and Keith had quite a bit in common, but the smaller nuances that made them different helped them from driving one another completely insane.

They were both stubborn and driven and passionate and extremely skilled. Where she was of a genius intellect and could reverse engineer whatever she needed or wanted from alien tech she didn’t know, he could find a way to make a weapon of nearly any item he came across as well as alter his fighting style to cover himself against an opponent. She had watched him once throw a giant boulder-beast three times his size that was created by the Galra over his shoulder by simply crouching low, taking advantage of the creature’s momentum, and implementing a particular grip on the creatures arms to send it. She had helped to teach him to do some basic repair and troubleshooting tactics in case Red got damaged and they were separated from the group, while he had helped her to fine-tune and develop her fighting style. Even further, she had learned that Keith tended to also get the nighttime need to lurk through the castle – typically aimlessly, though sometimes she had a destination in mind – and they would chatter about conspiracy theories or swap stories about their lives on Earth.

Getting to know Keith had left her feeling a sense of ease in his company, but the analyst in her was still hopelessly intrigued by him.

He was abrasive and a bit callous with the others – including her on a handful of circumstances - but he was always so eager to reassure his teammates of their value and worth. He bickered with each of them at different points, but he never let those feelings soil his ability to help them during combat or training. Everything about the guy just screamed lone wolf, but he was one of the most team-oriented people she’d ever met.

Which was probably why he was humoring her, Lance, and Hunk.

It had been Lance’s idea that the four of them sneak out of the castle base and visit an alien speak-easy on a planet about twenty minutes away. It was apparently in Galra-free air space from what the maps and readings told them. “And if you’re _really_ worried about getting caught,” Lance said with a huge grin, “we can just all pile into Green and use the cloaking upgrade.”

“All of this to go to _some club_?” Keith asked, raising a brow and shifting his weight to one hip.

Lance looked at him incredulously before letting out a small laugh. “Do you _hear_ this guy? _Some club_ he says!” He laughed. Hunk looked a bit uneasy about the whole thing, as if he himself wasn’t fond of the idea of going, but the poor boy simply couldn’t deny Lance anything. “Look, it’s been _forever_ since the last time we went out and just had some _fun_! _Don’t_ be a buzz kill, Kogane!”

“Well why don’t the three of you just go without me, then?” Keith retorted evenly.

It was at this point that Pidge chimed in, waving one hand to get his attention. “Are you _really_ going to trust these two to stay in a group? Remember what happened _last time_ the three of us bailed out?” She asked calmly.

The mortified look on Keith’s face was all the answer he had to offer before pointing toward the hanger, pincheing the bridge of his nose lightly.

It was Lance that was able to get them into the club, using his power of persuasion on the burly, warthog-esque creature serving as the bouncer at the door. Inside, the place was dimly lit by a bunch of odd, glowing growths all along the ceiling and walls that reminded her some of mushrooms. The whole place seemed to be made of bamboo, though, so the idea of fungus of some sort growing on it didn’t seem too far out of the realm of plausibility. The DJ – what seemed to be an upright capybara with an hour-glass shape in a sequined gold dress - was playing loud, thrumming music that was similar to the techno beats Pidge used to listen to back on Earth, only with a weird effect on them that sounded identical to the ones old sci-fi movies used during big dramatic movements. It would be hard to dance to – well, unless you were Lance, since he could dance to _literally_ anything – so she made her way over to the bar along the back wall. Keith was a few paces behind her, keeping a gaze over his shoulder at Hunk and Lance as they joined the odd collection of dancers out on the floor.

“I’ll never understand why you insist on tagging along for these sorts of things,” He commented as they got settled in two bar chairs.

“Because it’s kinda nice. You know, getting out and enjoying the culture,” She said, waving around them with one hand. He flashed her a deadpan look and she merely shrugged, spinning around to the bar tender, flagging him over. “What I always find more interesting, though, is how easy it is to convince you to join us.”

He leaned his back and elbows against the bar, watching the crowd. As to whether or not he could actually still see Hunk and Lance, she wasn’t sure, but watching the reckless grinding and movements was at least something. “Is that what you think?”

She grinned and held off on answering as the bartender walked over. He was another warthog creature – much like the bouncer – but he seemed slightly more approachable than the other one. Probably because his tusks were slightly smaller than the one at the door, honestly. “What do you have on tap that’s good?” She asked happily.

He grunted, looking her up and down, before scowling slightly. “Ya got some kinda identification on ya, sweetheart?” He asked, leaning one of his hoofed hands against the bar top while indicating a sign posted above the shelf full of alien liquor with the other. Pidge couldn’t understand a word of it – written in some foreign language – and leaned a bit closer, tip-toing her fingers up along one of his tusks.

“Aw, you can let it slide this once, can’t you? With my line of work, having an ID isn’t really necessary,” She said, trying her best to make her voice sound like a playful coo.

Keith was watching her with a look that seemed to be a mix of disbelief and disgust.

The bartender grunted again. “Look, girlie, no ID, no drinks. Simply as that. If a lil’ thing like ya wants somethin’ ta drink, there’s a juice joint about three asteroid belts back,” He said evenly, starting to move back.

Big mistake.

Pidge wrapped her hand tight around his tusk and tugged hard, hauling his whole upper body on top of the bar. He looked at her in shock but she kept the pleasant smile on her face. “Look, Buster Brown,” She said, keeping her tone sickeningly sweet, jerking her thumb to herself and then Keith, “me and my pal here spend most of our time kicking ass and taking names in _colorful mechanical lions_. And, sadly, they don’t exactly offer badges or key cards for the _Paladins of Voltron_. Now how about you play nice and just hook us up with some drinks? I mean, unless you want Voltron to ignore this sorry shack when Zarkon and his goonies come knocking.”

The mention of Voltron seemed enough to jolt the guy into full attention, his hoof halting in reaching for the security buzzer under the bar. His eyes flickered from her to Keith, clearly seeking some kind of reassurance that she was bluffing. Keith, having gained a better understanding of when he should stand down, held up his hands. “Look, pal, Voltron kinda relies on all the Paladins and Lions being on the same page. And if she doesn’t want to Green Lion, we can’t make her Green Lion,” He said calmly before turning his attention back to the dancers. Pidge grinned proudly at Keith.

Good man.

The bartender let out a small sigh, realizing this was a fight he wasn’t going to win, and moved to stand upright. Pidge let him, but kept her grip on his tusk, just in case. “What galaxy are you drinking from?” He asked flatly, dusting off his shirt with his other hoof.

“Milky way, if you could. Jameson on the rocks for me, and a gin and tonic for my friend,” She said happily, releasing his tusk. She settled back in before reaching up and switching the dial on the choker communicators she’d made for them. Their Paladin helmets came with automatic translators and, using some spare parts around the castle ship, she had developed some choker necklaces with small ear buds for when they weren’t in their Paladin gear. It was rare that they used them, but they were certainly helpful.

Keith imitated her actions, switching the translator off as well, and looked at her with an amused smirk. “The way you flirt is shameful,” He said playfully.

She laughed as the bartender set their drinks down, nodding her head at him in appreciation and taking a small sip of her drink. The tender grumbled something, but it all came out as muffled pig sounds. It was strong – meaning the tender could mix a good drink – and she hummed in approval. “It gets results, doesn’t it?”

“You aren’t even the legal drinking age on Earth,” He retorted, taking a sip of his own drink.

“I’m out here risking my tail day in and day out trying to find my family and protect the universe; I think getting drunk a year before I’m legally allowed to is the _least_ the universe can offer me,” She said with a smug grin. She then held up her drink towards him.

“You are one strange young lady, Pidge Gunderson,” He said with a laugh, lightly clinking their glasses together. She dipped her head politely, opting to take his words as a compliment, and sipped her drink again.

They fell into casual chatter for a while after that, the alcohol leaving her mind a little fuzzy and her body tingling with false warmth. They made up wild, insane backstories for the other patrons of the club and bar as the night progressed, each story getting more ridiculous than the last. She leaned into his space and grinned, pointing at an alien with a fly for a head but the body of a man. “See that guy right there? He’s involved in some _seriously shady shit_ ,” She whispered conspiratorially.

“Oh, I am well aware. He’s into smuggling rare, exotic goods,” He whispered back, his own tone just as eager and giddy as hers.

“Oh yeah? Like what?”

He shifted so that they were facing each other, his expression grim, before he uttered gravely, “ _Peanuts_.”

“He’s a _monster_ ,” She managed to force out in a calm tone before she completely lost it, throwing her face into her arms on the bar top and cackling like a madman. It was so stupid, really, and made no sense for her to laugh so hard, but for some reason it got to her. Maybe it was just a side effect of the alcohol but she liked it.

He opened his mouth to say something else, snorting a bit himself, before a commotion out on the dance floor caught his attention. She wiped at one eye with the heel of her hand and followed his gaze, eyes widening as they watched what appeared to be Hunk – sweet, gentle, _Mr. Sunshine Hunk Garrett_ – getting into a huge brawl with two other patrons.

She hopped off the barstool, bayard in hand, without needing any further assessment.

She lassoed one of Hunk’s attackers with her bayard and heaved, sending him spinning in the direction of the bar. He crashed into it, leaving a sizable divot in the counter, and the bar tender glared at her. She flashed a sheepish grin and waved before she saw Keith charging after her, his own bayard drawn. “Pidge, duck and roll!” He snapped strictly.

Without looking back, she followed the order, rolling to his side as the blade made contact with the arm of the second assailant. These aliens were strange in that it seemed they could form weapons with their bodies; what had certainly been a limb mere seconds ago was now curved and twisted into something resembling a battle axe. Keith twisted himself, ducking under the blade-arm, and slammed the curved handle of his bayard right into the other’s gut, causing him to wheeze and stumble back unsteadily. He then turned himself around the guy’s back, shoving him in Pidge’s direction. With a small smirk, she readied her bayard again and wrapped it tight around their opponent, skirting around him to rejoin with Keith. He placed one hand on a portion of the whip, the other set on her back to help steady her – his own bayard returned to its holster on his hip - and added his own strength to help send the second assailant slamming into his buddy – whom had been scrambling back to his feet with an enraged snarl - over by the bar.

The added force sent both of them back through the same hole Pidge had created before and right into an entire rack of various alien booze.

She stared for a moment before smirking up at Keith, breathing in softly. His eyes were bright and shining in a mix of smug satisfaction and weary anticipation for retaliation. He was just a bit sweaty from the brief skirmish, but she was certain she probably wasn’t much better so pointing it out seemed hypocritical. She was hyper-aware of his hand on her back – warm and reassuring and steady – and his other hand slowly released the chord of her bayard so she could retract it. Once his hand was removed, she sent an electric shock down the line, just to add insult to their opponent’s injury. She beamed up at the raised brow she received. “Figured I’d just drive home the point that they just got annihilated,” She mused proudly.

He laughed and shook his head, his smile sparking a warmth in her chest that she couldn’t quite explain. It had happened a few times in the past few months, but she hadn’t put much thought to it. “We could get arrested for this,” He commented conversationally, leaving her winded for a second.

Suddenly her sense of peace when around him – how conversing and falling into rhythm with him came so damn naturally after their initial meeting – made a lot more sense.

Lance suddenly started barking at them, indicating the club bouncers on their way to most likely detain the four of them until authorities could be brought in to arrest them. It wouldn’t have been the first time the four of them had been thrown in space jail – which, in itself, was strange considering she expected their positions as _Paladins of Voltron_ to place them beyond reproach by any non-Galran space legal system, but, as their previous six arrests proved, they _weren’t_ – and would likely be stuck there for some time, given Shiro had made it clear last time that he would not be bailing them out if they pulled stupid, arrest-worthy shenanigans again. She pushed Keith’s words to the back of her mind and looked around, spotting a glowing neon sign on the other end of the club. She couldn’t understand it, but there were some universal truths that crossed into the cultures of other species in the many galaxies; one of those universal truths being that most establishments had some sort of emergency exit.

“Gentlemen, I believe that’s our sign to jump ship!” She snapped, pointing in the direction of the sign. Lance led Hunk by one arm while the other hand pressed a handkerchief against his bloody nose – which, she realized, she’d need to ask about later, because Hunk was the last person she expected to go picking fights at an intergalactic club – and Keith followed after her, running with his head tilted slightly to keep an eye on the bouncer’s, his bayard returning to his hand. She clutched tighter at her own, just in case they ended up needing to fight.

Luckily enough, Green was already waiting for them right outside the exit, having picked up on Pidge’s distress. She grinned up at the mechanical cat as she dropped her head and opened her mouth to the Paladins. Pidge paused and gently patted one of the large, metal fangs in her mouth. “Good girl, Green,” She beamed warmly before following the rest of her group into the cockpit to take her place at the controls. They were taking off just as the bouncers came rushing out after them, their expressions a mix of awe and horror at the sight of a Lion of Voltron. Pidge smirked in satisfaction before glancing back at the others.

Hunk was silent while Lance started prattling on and lecturing him – the irony of the situation _so potent_ that Pidge could _practically taste it_ – while Keith pulled out the first aid kit. They’d started keeping first aid kits in their Lions after an incident where Lance broke his arm after being separated from the others, and had been unable to properly reset the bone and treat the wound. They’d found him before the damage was irreversible but the team agreed it’d be good to have supplies on hand for such a situation. Keith was silent as he settled in across from Hunk, indicating with a calm wave of his hand that he drop the handkerchief and let him examine the damage. She glanced briefly at her arm where she knew those same words he’d said earlier were still etched along her skin.

Her heart thrummed at the thought of the words, but she swallowed to push the feeling down. She had other concerns that took priority over taking the plunge of acknowledging her soul mate. She’d wait a bit longer – try and gauge if Keith had the same epiphany as she had already – and then she’d confront him with the words on her arm. She’d already waited this long to find her soul mate, a little longer certainly wasn’t going to hurt anything.

……………………………………………………………………..

He wasn’t sure when he came to trust Pidge more than the other Paladins, but he could at least rationalize it.

She could be just as stubborn and impulsive as he was – the other Paladin most likely to enable his bad behavior - but she was also a bit more methodical and tactical with her acts of blatant mutiny. He could come to her with a half-assed idea of something to do that would most certainly get them in trouble with Shiro, Allura and Coran later, and she would help him weave it into a beautiful symphony of civil disobedience. Her plans were a contradiction of themselves that he couldn’t help but admire; always well-crafted and tight-knit, but somehow also risky and dangerous enough to keep him piloting Red by the seat of his pants.

This particular scheme was probably his favorite of hers to date.

He had needed time away from the castle ship to clear his head after their most recent run-in with the Galra on the planet they were stationed. They had spent three straight days battling them off from their vice-grip on the world, brought there after the Galra hacked into their communication line and broadcasted their heinous attack on the innocent people they had enslaved. The crimes committed against the denizens of the planet had left him sick with a fury he hadn’t felt in a while and he felt like chasing the Galra off wasn’t nearly enough. He wanted to land a bigger blow on the Galra; something to warn them that they would suffer if they ever took a tactic like that again.

He had stumbled across a Galra medical base on an asteroid not far off from the planet in question and the thought of tracking down the leader of the troops – Harthor or something along those lines – and making him pay sounded like a brilliant idea. Red urged him to rush in and annihilate everything he could, the mechanical beast always eager and ready for a fight, but he hesitated. If he wanted to be successful, he needed to go about this the right way.

He returned to the castle ship and made a beeline for the opposite side of the hanger from Red’s spot, knowing that Pidge would be there. She hadn’t even bothered to change out of her Paladin gear before starting up on the honey-do list of repairs and reprogrammings she’d have to be getting on for the Lions after such a long battle. She perked up when he rushed in, an easy grin turning up on her lips, seeming to read his purpose without needing more information than his expression. “Find something interesting out there, I take it?” She mused, leaning one elbow on her table and cupping her chin with that hand.

He grabbed one of the many spare chairs they kept around – in case of situations such as this, where Pidge or Hunk had company while they worked – and dragged it over. He turned the chair so the back was facing her and sat down, leaning his chest against the back support and resting his crossed arms on the top of the back. “Found a Galra medical bay,”

That seemed to catch her interest even more. She sat upright and turned her chair to fully face him. “How far off?”

“Less than ten miles off, but more than five; probably between seven and six, if I were to wager a guess,”

“You see Commander Harthor’s ship docking in?”

“It was already docked in, but he’s totally there,”

“Have you told any of the others?”

“And have to listen to a lecture from Shiro about not whacking the hornets’ nest? No, thank you,” He scoffed lightly. She snickered a bit. “I came to you immediately. I knew you wouldn’t tell me this wasn’t a good idea.”

Her grin turned wicked as she pushed her chair back away and she headed toward a large bin filled with various tech bits. Pidge would scavenge about the battlefield after a victory, scrounging up anything she could salvage or repurpose to fit her fancy. Lance claimed that she was like a mutant hybrid between a crow and a vulture – constantly pilfering the remains of this or that, while also hoarding what she found, regardless of its usefulness – and, while Keith did occasionally take issue with her pick-up habit, he couldn’t help but find it incredibly practical, too.

Especially when it was being implemented to help him with a less-than-Paladin-worthy endeavor.

He assisted her with the next hour of work that was put into developing a small bomb; a sticky-bomb, as she called it. They had collected other things from their various travels through the multiple galaxies and worlds; some for the benefit of the team, and others because the indigenous people insisted gifts be given to their saviors. One of the things that had been particularly useful was the sap from the trees on a planet inhabited by insect people. It was thick and stuck as well as gorilla glue, making it quite helpful in repairs – also, as Hunk had learned, boiling it down and mixing it with this pseudo-sugar cane they had could make a lovely glaze for his rendition of cinnamon rolls – but it had a few other interesting qualities. When mixed with a pinecone-esque item from a nearby planet and given a wick it could become quite the impressive little bomb.

He couldn’t help but feel somehow relaxed in her taking on the task without questioning him on why he wanted to take further action. She seemed to understand better than the others what it was like when you felt like something still needed to be set right – most likely due to her own long-held grudge against their enemies and the Garrison back on Earth – and didn’t judge him for being spiteful. Shiro insisted that he could never continue being successful like that. Lance called it petty and, while Hunk never said anything out loud, he was certain that Hunk was intimidated by how vicious Keith could get. But Pidge? Pidge knew how that felt and knew that nothing would alleviate the feeling but doing something about it. She could take his desire and passion to help sate that fury inside of him by partnering it with her intellect and ingenuity and creating something that would make their enemies quake in fear of crossing them.

Pidge wrapped the pinecone up in the honey, making sure to attach the wick before closing it all up, with the help of some special gloves that she and Hunk had designed specifically for handling the material in a more hands-on way. She had then hooked it up in a small, hovering capsule with a make-shift lighter attached to the top. She grabbed a few more things – which she shoved unceremoniously into a bag – and then led him out. “How much recon did you do when you got out there?” She asked while adjusting the strap on her shoulder.

“Not much; I found the place, ignored Red telling me to charge ahead, and came back to get you,” He said as he kept up with her. She had grown quite a bit from when they first met, but she was still a good amount shorter than him and keeping pace with her was a relatively easy feat; when she wasn’t actively trying to get away, that was.

“Well, we’re gonna need to find a good hiding spot. One that is preferably more than 800 feet away, but no more than 850,” She said simply, skidding to a stop in front of Red. She grinned up at the giant metal feline. “To think she still wants to go roaring into battle before I have the chance to get her back in tip-top shape is almost impressive.”

Keith smirked himself, Red’s irritation at the comment nudging the back of his consciousness. “What would you call it instead of impressive, then?”

“I’d call it completely immature and stupid. Then again, it is you two I’m talking about, so it really can’t be helped,” She mused back with a smirk.

Regardless of the slight, Red dropped her head and opened her maw to them. “And what does that make you, oh wise one?” He laughed lightly as he followed her in. The name calling between he and Pidge was different than he and Lance; they knew where to draw the line with each other, never skirting over from playful to malicious.

She turned on her heels to grin at him, placing one hand to her chest gently. “That makes me the mature, responsible adult coming along to make sure you don’t get your sorry ass locked up in Galra-jail,” She laughed before finishing the twirl and continuing into the cockpit. He laughed outright at that comment, seeing through it as the flimsy excuse that it was. He settled in at the controls as she resumed the finishing touches on her little project, explaining her full plan to him as they went.

The bomb was inside a capsule that would be able to hover and travel on to the ship without detonating, and that could be controlled remotely. She had tossed one of the many control pads that they had around the ship and would simply repurpose it to control the drone as opposed to whatever it was originally meant to. The small lighter-esque fixture she had attached to the top of the capsule wouldn’t light until the capsule itself was split in half, given that this little bomb was quick to light and just as quick to go off. “There’ll be a small camera on it that you’ll be able to have on the screen so you can see where you’re going. Once you get the little fella settled with our good buddy Harthor, just click the detonation button and _poof_!” She said, making the sound effect and flailing her hands in the air to help illustrate her point.

He knew he shouldn’t be as thrilled as he was about the prospect of seriously maiming or killing someone, but after what he’d seen over the last few days, he figured he could be allowed this one instance of malicious joy. “And what do we tell the others when we get back after this whole thing?”

“We tell them that we simply went out to do a perimeter check or something,” She shrugged.

“We need something a little more concrete than that,” He pointed out. He knew Shiro would grill them when he found out what they’d done – and he had _no doubt_ that Shiro would find out, _somehow_ , _some way_ –and he’d look for any differences to give him more concrete proof of their guilt.

“Okay, then we tell them that we were still a little unnerved after the battle,” She sighed heavily, flopping over to lay on her back on the bottom of the cockpit. He snickered at her but she ignored him. “I was getting frustrated over how much work I was going to have to do fixing all the Lions and you figured that going out to fly around space might help me mellow out some. Green was still too beaten up from the fight, though, and I didn’t want her overdoing it, so we went in Red. We were minding out own business when we heard the bomb go off, spotted that it was a Garla medical bay, and then high-tailed it back to the base. We can ditch all of this stuff that I brought with us out in space and then have Red blow it into itty-bitty space dust so there’s no physical evidence, either. That sound better?”

“Do you really think that’ll work?” He asked, pulling up to a small asteroid within the parameters Pidge had given him to work with.

She looked up at him with a smug grin, eyes sparking with mischief and excitement at the thought of a challenge. “If we both stick to the story, they can’t prove anything,” She said lightly before sitting back up and pulling out the pad again.

Keith’s stomach flipped at the words, suddenly sending him back to the kitchen of his childhood home again. His right arm twitched, the words seeming to spark back to life at being said out loud, and he felt a small smirk turn up on his lips. He certainly hadn’t expected this, but he wasn’t necessarily complaining; it certainly explained the strange thoughts he’d been plagued with about her on some nights. It was comforting to have a feeling to tether it to. He turned his attention back to the matter at hand, deciding he’d talk to her about the words once they got back to the castle.

Or, more correctly, they’d talk after the punishment training Allura subjected them to after learning of what they’d done.


	6. Thoughtful Impracticality

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keidge Week 2016 Day Seven Prompt Fill. They say the best gifts come from the heart, right?

She wasn’t really expecting to be so completely blindsided by him.

She knew that Keith was smarter than some people they knew – _Lance_ – gave him credit for. She’d spent enough late nights talking with him and too many hours bonding through training exercises for the improvement of their teamwork to not know a great many things about him; all these facts ranging from being trivial to important. The two most important – in her expert opinion – were that he was a sentimental soul who actually called his Lion partner Rose in secret because it made her feel special, and that he could be quite clever with his tactics when devising an attack plan. He was pretty good at stealth, sneak attacks, and was extremely observant, so his being a great strategist wasn’t too terribly surprising. The only person more observant than him on the team would be Pidge herself, or maybe Shiro.

Keith had a bad tendency at being impulse and stubborn, though. He’d charge in like a starved wolf without thinking over current risk factors or later consequences, focused only on taking down his opponent and the victory closest at hand. She didn’t have too much room to talk, seeing as she herself could be just as impulsive and brazen as him, but she still found herself floored by his thorough planning and ability to lead when he actually took the extra time for strategy.

Perhaps that was why she fell for him as hard as she did.

They’d been on Team Voltron for three years and had been dating for nearly one year. They hadn’t told the rest of the team about their relationship, though, due to fear of the reactions they’d receive. They knew they really shouldn’t be keeping secrets and that, when the mechanical cat was inevitably let out of the castle-sized bag, there could be terrible repercussions for their deceit. They felt awful about it and were dreading the day, but they also knew that they were professionals at this point and didn’t want to get lectured about fraternizing being a risk to themselves and their teammates. They’d proven time and again over this last year that their personal feelings for one another could be placed to the side when it was necessary for the safety of the team. Pidge feared the others not seeing it that way, and Keith knew that Shiro would have quite a few examples on hand of how it could all go down the drain.

They had docked on their most recent exploration planet only a few hours ago, with the planet’s night cycle on the horizon. Allura and Shiro agreed that exploring would be something best done in the daylight and suggested the others spend the time getting some well-deserved rest. Pidge, thinking the idea of sleep actually sounded pretty good for once, had headed off to her own quarters and dozed off near immediately after swapping into an oversized green tunic that functioned more as a nightgown for her. After only a few hours of slumber, she’d been poked in the nose, causing her to scrunch it up and groan loudly.

Her response was an all too familiar voice, cooing teasingly, “Aw, poor sleepy bird.”

“Go. Away. Sleeping,” She grumbled, turning so her back was facing him and nuzzling deeper into her covers. She let out a contented sigh as well, hoping that it would be enough to coax him into leaving.

She had forgotten who she was dealing with, apparently.

Keith felt a grin turn up on his lips, seeing the challenge and feeling pride that he knew how to approach it. Whether by design, a sense of necessity, or simply her own preference, Pidge spent most of the time she had to herself working on decoding this or programming that or preparing this upgrade for that lion and so on. It made certain tasks easier – such as rounding her up for training – but on the flip side, she was an absolute workaholic whom would occasionally skips meals from being so focused on her work. On days where she was so engrossed in her work that meals and hygiene fell to the wayside, Shiro would be sent in to peacefully extract her. But on days where Shiro was preoccupied helping Coran and Allura with battle plans or navigations or something of that ilk, the other three paladins would typically draw straws to see who would have to find a way to coax the aggressive pigeon from her perch.

Years of being selected as the unenthused bird keeper most often had prepared Keith Kogane for this moment.

Their being in a relationship didn’t necessarily mean he would be spared from taking pointed elbows and surprisingly forceful kicks to the shin; Pidge Gunderson showed no mercy when it came to getting her way. Her fortitude and refusal to give up were admirable qualities but when those same qualities were applied to her temper tantrums, it was far from charming. He tended to be the best at coercing her to deviate from her own plans – second only to Shiro, but he understood why and took no offense to that fact – because he could be just as bombastic and stubborn and _just plain mean_ as she would be.

Her attempts to shove him out of the hanger would typically end with him throwing her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He would retaliate to the jabs and blows she’d dish out in her indignation at being carried with small pinches to the backs of her knees and rounding a corner quick enough to clip her foot or shoulder. And, the cherry on top, was that _Pidge herself_ had taught him how to hack into the controls on the bedroom doors once when they were pulling a prank on Lance. He very rarely ever made use of the skill, but it had occasionally come in handy during spats or disagreements between them.

Keith leaned over and pinched at her side gently, knowing all too well how ticklish she was there. She yelped and shot upright, shifting to try and dig an elbow into his side. He anticipated that move, however, and side-stepped smoothly. She tumbled over the side of her bed and hit the ground, her equilibrium still drastically skewed from her being half-awake, becoming a mess of flailing limbs and tangled covers. She scrambled to sit upright, the blankets pooling around her, and blew a few strands of hair out of her face. “ _What_ do you _want_ , Keith?” She growled through clenched teeth.

He squatted down so they were eye level - Pidge noting that he had changed into his Paladin armor - and flashed a huge, proud grin. She’d seen this grin on his face before; he usually sports it right before flipping his opponent flat on their back during combat training. The expression caught her interest, cooling some of her fury with a balm of curiosity. “Get geared up, grab your bayard, and meet me in the hanger. I’ve got a little surprise for you,” He said.

She hummed quietly in thought before getting up. “Alright, alright. But if this isn’t worth it, I’m volunteering you to help Lance practice new pick-up lines,” She warned, scooping up her covers and tossing them into a heap on the bed.

He rolled his eyes and headed to the door. “Whatever you say, Katie,” He hummed before disappearing out the door.

She waited until she could hear his footsteps echoing down the hallway before putting herself back together. She contemplated going back to bed out of spite but she knew that he would just come and wake her up again; or, even worse, he’d find some other thing to do for vengeance. On top of that, the use of her actual name had her especially curious.

It was only in their most quiet and intimate moments that he ever called her Katie. Only Shiro and Keith were aware that Pidge wasn’t her actual name – more because neither Hunk nor Lance had seemed particularly interested in that information – and while she’d gotten somewhat used to hearing Shiro call her as such, whenever Keith called her, it still left her heart skipping beats. She changed into her armor as she was told, grabbed her bayard and a hair tie, and headed out.

She walked into the hanger to find him leaning against one of Red’s paws and checking a stop watch, the hanger doors already open for take-off.

“Okay, what is this oh-so-phenomenal surprise you felt the need to wake me up over?” She asked while setting her helmet down on her make-shift desk at her work station. She then started to comb her fingers through her hair to tie it back. Since revealing herself to her team, she’d decided to grow her hair out again, having honestly missed having long hair to play with.

Keith made a small noise in the back of his throat as he approached her, swiping the hair tie from her grasp and taking over working on her hair. “Why didn’t you tie this back before you even got here?” He asked.

In all honestly, she’d done it because the feel of his fingers combing through her hair and gently working the tresses into quick buns or French braids was relaxing for her; however, she wasn’t going to tell him the whole truth. “Because it’s more fun to make you do it for me. A small price you have to pay for waking my happy ass up. Now answer my question, you dodgy jerk,” She hummed back.

He smirked a bit as he finished up the quick bun for her, flicking the little knot of hair lightly. “First, get in Green. Then follow me, and I’ll show you,” He said before retreating to climb into Red’s cockpit.

She scowled and made her way to Green, tugging on her helmet. “That boy may as well be a damn ballerina with all those fancy moves,” She grumbled bitterly. She could feel Green’s amusement as she headed in to Green’s cockpit as well. She flopped down in her seat and reached for the controls. “Did Red give you any hint as to what exactly he’s got up his sleeve?” She asked as she watched the other metal feline shift and walk toward the exit

Green laughed lightly. “Sorry, little one, but I’ve been sworn to secrecy. Lion’s honor,”

“Well aren’t you just helpful today?” She sighed before Green lurched forward, following their comrades out.

Once they were a good distance from the castle ship, they went by the mechanical beasts’ paws instead of relying on their flying capabilities, much to her surprise. But then again, that was probably part of his plan too; the planet was certainly a gorgeous one. Red and Keith led them through rolling hills of what she assumed was pastel orange grass, halting at pools of some kind of liquid – or so she hoped, given past experiences they’d had over the years – gleaming a deep, rich purple hue with glittering silver and gold stones of some sort at the bottom. Keith hadn’t said anything over the communicator to her – only pausing at certain points to wait for her to catch up and gawk a little – before he and Red would charge ahead again.

She was left in their dust and in awe at one trail they cut past in specific.

The trees on the planet reminded her of an odd hybrid between birch and weeping willows; pale, alabaster trunks that stretched out high and wide, but their leaves dangled far off the branches like wisps of unruly hair. The leaves were the real game changers, though; they were translucent and came in various shades of yellow, orange and red, catching in the light like stained glass and casting colorful shadows along the ground in the rising light. She felt her breath catch as she looked around, wondering how long Keith had been milling around exploring earlier, before she pulled him up on the communicator. “Keith, this is _amazing_!” She said excitedly as he appeared on the small holographic monitor.

He flashed a small smile. “I’m glad you’re enjoying, but this isn’t the surprise,”

She quirked an eyebrow. “Wait, what?”

“I mean, I’m glad you’re enjoying the sights, but I had no idea it looked like this. It was really nice at night, though, so I should have figured it would be pretty during the day too. Consider this a happy accident, I suppose,” He explained with a small shrug, guiding Red further into the thicket of trees to settle underneath one. She had noticed he was starting to pick up her habit of occasionally rambling when answering question, though he didn’t do it for nearly as long and he typically stayed relatively on topic. “No, what I wanted to show you is just up ahead, in a ravine, but we need to leave the Lions here to make sure we aren’t detected.”

She wanted to ask why they didn’t just come in one Lion if he was concerned about being spotted – especially since Green could cloak for short bursts of time – but decided not to argue. She supposed he was thinking it’d be better to have two Lions if they did end up in a fire fight with any unfriendly faces. Green sidled up beside Red and settled comfortably for Pidge to disembark. Keith was waiting a few paces ahead for her, smile still in place and his bayard already pulled out.

She slipped her own bayard into her grip as she fell in step with him, matching her footfalls to his. He had helped teach her how to walk more quietly, move more carefully, shift her weight to make her movements a bit more graceful; a skill that was useful for missions and sneaking back and forth from his room when her nightmares made sleep near impossible. “So, were you just out exploring instead of sleeping, then?” She asked.

He hummed lightly. “When we landing I thought I saw something. Allura said to leave it be for now, since it seemed to be a ways off and hadn’t noticed us yet, but it was bothering me. I figured it’d be a good idea to get some intel on whatever it was,” He said calmly, shifting a bit closer to her as the mouth of the ravine came into view. When they walked, his hand occasionally bumped against hers, the soft clack of their armor creating a surprisingly comforting background noise.

As they peered over into the large, deep ravine below, she was stunned.

It was a Galra camp of some sort, but she wasn’t entirely sure at first. There was a huge hole carved into the side of the gorge – or, she reasoned, perhaps it was the mouth of some sort of cave – and that seemed to be where all the action was taking place. There were sentries posted here and there but there were two actual Galra guards standing watch by the entrance. There were two large buildings – windowless, dilapidated husks more than buildings, really – and two small shacks positioned in between the two buildings. Both buildings were in just as sad a state of repair but one of them had a hanging sign above the door; a wooden sign, hanging loosely from chains, with a red cross painted on it. A sick bay of sorts, she assumed. There was a Galra ship settled to the far left of the ravine and a few more guards and sentries were exiting the ship.

As one of the Galra headed toward one of the larger buildings, a blaster and megaphone clutched tightly in his hands, it dawned on her what they were staring at.

“I’ve been observing this place ever since I found it,” Keith supplied, taking her slack-jawed expression for the epiphany that it was. She flinched at the sound of his voice then turned her head to look at him with wide eyes. “I caught them toward the end of the day before, so I didn’t get a good look at the workers, but one of the few I saw looked a lot like you. Did… Did your brother walk with a limp?”

_Your father was sent away to a work camp._

_Matt and I were sent to the arena._

_Matt was scared._

_Grabbed a guard’s weapon and struck Matt._

_Take care of your father._

Despite how long ago the conversation had been had, she could still remember it clear as day. Shiro had saved her brother Matt from dying in the arena by injuring him. Shiro assumed that the Galra would heal Matt’s leg – they had the technology to do that much, he was sure of it – but assuming that they opted not to, it could make sense. Shiro admitted that it had been a deep cut he had inflicted. If the Galra had only given him basic treatment to get him work-ready then he could have suffered after effects. “You found him,” She finally wheezed out, her breathing starting to pick up and her eyes watering.

He settled one hand on top of hers and squeezed gently. “Happy anniversary, Katie,” He said simply.

She broke down, letting out embarrassing little sob-giggle hybrids as tears started to fall. “You… You _found my brother_ as an _anniversary gift_?” She blubbered, squeezing his hand back as tightly as she could, but she was smiling.

“Well, I found this place while I was just trying to find a nice spot for, like, a picnic or something. I mean, Lance has raved about how that’s a great way to woo a girl,” He said with a small laugh. He held up his free hand and held out his thumb and index fingers as he ticked off two points. “But then I realized that we don’t exactly have a lot of options for picnic-y foods – because I still barely understand how to cook half the stuff Hunk has found that’s edible – and also that I doubt we could bluff our ways out of it if we got caught on the picnic. So I thought that, as far as woo-worthy gestures go, helping you spring your brother from an intergalactic concentration camp might be a nice alternative.”

She stared at him before she squeezed her eyes shut and swallowed hard to fight back more hiccups and laughs and tears. Of course Keith would be the one to find something like this and put the knowledge to an oddly impractical use. “I feel like such a smuck now! I was just going to upgrade your bayard so that you could alter the length and curve of your blade however you wanted!” She choked out lightly.

He laughed, clinking their helmeted heads together lightly. “Are you _kidding_ me? That sounds like a _kickass_ anniversary gift! Lance will never win another sparing match again,” He beamed, eyes shining in enthusiasm and delight. He gave her hand one more squeeze before looking back down at the ravine. “So, from what I’ve seen, we have about ten minutes before they’ll start sending the workers into the camp. You should get Green and go into cloak mode; you could plug up the cave hole and deal some damage to the ship to prevent an escape. I’ll jump down and keep them from getting back to the ship until you can take it out.”

“They have a decent amount of troops, though; should we call for some reinforcements?” She asked while taking a shuddering breath to collect herself.

“I already got that covered; once you get in Green, Red’s gonna send a distress signal to Black, Blue and Yellow. If my timing is right, then they should show up in time to help finishing taking out the Galra and start the job of taking care of the workers,”

“Shiro’s gonna be _so pissed_ at us,” She said, shifting to slide farther back down toward the Lions.

Keith flashed her a smirk. “He’ll get over it once he sees it’s for a worthy cause,”

She felt her heart beat pick up and she nodded, blinking back a fresh wave of tears. “God, _I love you so much_ ,” She whispered breathlessly before darting back to Green.


	7. Don't Jacket

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kidge Week 2017 Day One Prompt Fill. In which Pidge is oblivious, Keith is a toddler, Lance almost passes as a victim, and Hunk Garrett is suffering.

It really shouldn’t bother him.

He told himself that as he took a detour on his way to the training deck – just checking to make sure she didn’t need any help with her latest project – and spotted a very familiar article of clothing draped over her form. An article of clothing that belonged to another member of their team. An article of clothing that belonged to the most obnoxious member of their team. An article of clothing that belonged to the most obnoxious member of their team that happened to like instigating fights with him for no reason whatsoever.

Seeing Pidge toting Lance’s jacket like some kind of cape as she sat in front of her computer shouldn’t have bothered him. But it totally did.

“Why do you have that?” He blurted with really thinking first.

Pidge jumped in surprise and swiveled around to face him, looking ready to swipe up her bayard and launch into attack mode. Her shoulders slumped – the action only made more noticeable by the bulky coat resting atop them – and she let out a small sigh. “Geez, Keith, way to sneak up on me,” She said lightly before turning her attention back to her computer screen.

“Why do you have that?” He repeated in lieu of answering her statement properly.

Pidge looked back at him, quirking an eyebrow and wearing a small scowl. “Why do I have what?”

“Lance’s jacket. Why do you have it?” He asked, gesturing with a flippant wave of his hand.

She looked from him to the jacket then shrugged a bit. “Lance left it for me in case I got cold. Hanger doesn’t exactly retain heat well and it’s a lot easier than me lugging my comforter back and forth from here and my room so I don’t freeze to death,” She said with an indifferent wave of her hand.

He scowled at that. She hadn’t mentioned getting cold in the hanger to him before, and he spent a good amount of time ducked out with Pidge. Out of everyone on the ship, Pidge was the easiest for him to talk to. While Lance had pulled back a bit on the teasing and rude remarks, he still had some rivalry-axe to grind with the Red Paladin, so most of their interactions were still tense and unnerving. He and Hunk got along well enough – especially when they realized they both had a soft spot for terrible, groan-inducing puns – but there was still the sense that Hunk was much more Lance’s friend than Keith’s. Allura and he had cleared the air since his discovery of his Galra heritage, but there was still some lingering discomfort than neither of them felt the need to press or address; they could function fine as teammates, after all, so there was really no point. And while Coran proved to be rather wise and insightful under all his quirky bravado and foreign euphuisms, sometimes Keith just wanted to vent without what he said being taken to heart or under serious consideration.

Shiro had been his soft place to fall for as long as he could remember, but after his brief departure from the team the trust that was once there was fractured. As much as Kieth wanted to, he couldn’t find himself comfortable with going to Shiro like he used to; the fear of being abandoned all over again too prominent in his mind.

But Pidge had become the most steadfast support system he had. When Shiro had left and Keith had been forced to take up the mantle he left behind, Pidge had been the first to accept and adapt to the dynamic his year as leader had come with. She never questioned his orders and was quite to jump to his defense when the others did; causing all the protesting to quiet to just the occasional grumble when she declared, “If you aren’t going to listen to him out of any respect for his position as the Black Paladin, then at least do it out of respect of what Shiro wanted!”

He started seeking her out after that point, joining her in the hanger and just sitting with her. At first the chatter between them was stale and stiff and forced, but slowly they started to find common ground and opened up to each other more. He learned that she had a secret soft spot for musicals – an entire collection of nearly 1000 songs dedicated to show tunes and Disney ditties – and he learned she shared his love for the old Disney classic _The Fox and the Hound_. She loved the _Lord of the Rings_ films while he had loved the books. She coerced him to watch the films – which he enjoyed way more than he thought he would – and he managed to get her to read the books – she managed to hack into some eBook website, though he was still unsure how she managed that in space – and he’d been left laughing every time she busted into his room unannounced after reading one of the more intense scenes.

From there, he gradually grew to trust her and revealed his fears and anxieties to her. And Pidge had responded… Well, in what he had discovered to be the norm for her; by simply shrugging and offering awkward reassurance that she thought he was doing okay. Much like Keith himself, Pidge wasn’t always the best when it came to dealing with other people. Pidge came at most situations from a logical stance – though there were things that triggered a more emotional, visceral reaction from her, such as her missing family members – and, when presented with a situation where her advice was being sought, she was normally only able to say what she thought of a solution.

Give the girl anything that involved numbers, calculations, or intricate planning and she’d knock your socks right off. Understanding other people’s emotions, though, was an area she was still learning.

When he came to her to vent about whatever was eating at him, she would usually be tinkering with something or doing repairs to the Lions, but he always knew she was listening. She’d stay silent and occasionally make some kind of noise of acknowledgement when prompted by a pause in his speech. Somehow, she could read his tone and wording to decipher whether he wanted input or not. She was an analytic type by nature, so for her everything was another chance to learn about how something – or, in this case, someone – worked. She would either tell her what she thought of something, offer him a more logical approach to a problem, or simply let what he said linger in the air to keep it from his shoulders. He had found immeasurable relief in having someone he could go to without being judged for what he said or felt.

So finding out that she had never voiced something as trivial as being cold in the hanger threw him for a loop.

He walked closer and peered over her shoulder at what she was working on – trying his damndest to ignore Lance’s stupid jacket – and realized she wasn’t actually wearing the jacket, but just draping it over herself like a cape. He quirked an eyebrow and set one hand on her work table to look at the specs she was running a little better; files, he realized, to help her rebuild Rover, as they had collected a small squad of Galran hover drones on their last mission. “Is it actually helping? The jacket, I mean,” He commented, the smaller part of him telling him to just let it go.

It really shouldn’t bother him as much as he was letting it; regardless of bonding experiences and levels of trust between the two of them.

Pidge tilted back a bit in her seat and hummed in response. “Well, when I’m wearing it, it’s way too long. I mean, no shocker; Home Boy is more noodle than man most of the time, but… Well, my hands don’t even come out so I can’t really type with it on, so I can’t _actually_ wear it to keep as warm as I’d like. But it _kinda_ works, so… _meh_?” She asked with another shrug.

That gave him a brilliant idea.

“Here,” He said calmly, shrugging off his own jacket. She looked between his face and his jacket in bemusement. “Just see if it fits well enough that your hands come out of the sleeves. If they do, you can borrow it while you’re in here. It’s not like I wear it while I train anyway.”

Keith took Lance’s jacket from her and she took his, slipping in to it easily. She’d grown a little bit in the almost two years they’d been Paladins – not as much as she would have liked, she’d lamented to him once – and while his jacket was still too big for her, the ends of the sleeves rested just a bit over her thumbs. She settled back into her seat and started typing, beaming at not being hindered. “Perfect! This’ll work!” She said, turning to face him.

Keith decided to ignore his escalated heart rate when he saw the spark of gratitude and excitement in her bright eyes.

“Great. I guess I’ll come check on you after my training session and see how you’re holding up then,” He said, giving a brief salute before heading back toward the hanger doors. He paused to look back, watching as Pidge zipped his jacket all the way up, popped up the collar, and hunkered down to work. He chuckled and shook his head, heading back down the corridor.

He paused when he noticed Lance’s jacket still tossed over his arm. A part of him suggested that he should probably go return this to the other pilot and explain that, while Pidge appreciated the gesture, it was way too big and made it too hard for her to work. Another part of him suggested that he voice his irritation with Lance over the action, but realized that might not be a good idea. Lance would probably read too much in to it – because, as Keith had already told himself multiple times, _it really shouldn’t have bothered him in the first place_ – and that could have long-standing consequences that Keith lacked the skill or patience to deal with. A third part of him – that suspiciously sounded like Red Lion – called back to mind an incident with Lance involving faked kindness, a bottle of water after a rough training sessions, and Kaltenecker’s drool and suddenly he knew how to handle it.

Later that night, poor innocent Hunk would be forced to take a hysterical Lance out with him in Yellow to find the space-born jacket. While they were on the hunt, Keith would take the lecture from Shiro about how launching your teammate’s favorite jacket out through the air lock was unbecoming behavior of a Paladin of Voltron in stride. Pidge would sit in the corner of the room, hiding her snickers behind the popped collar of Keith’s jacket, or muffling her giggles into the sleeves, and Keith would decide that watching her was well worth the lecture.


	8. Seeking out a Professional

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kidge Week 2017 Day Two Prompt Fill. At the end of the day, Pidge would be the least effected by Shiro’s departure. After all, she’s gotten pretty good at losing people that mean a lot to her. You’d think that Keith would be pretty good about it too, but not really.

Like so many other training sessions in the past few weeks, this one ended with the usual bombastic theatrics of a drag-out brawl – the weapons alternating between words, fists, or both – between Keith and Lance. Allura tried to break it up but that just made Keith walk out, ignoring the flurry of insults Lance threw after him; and then, as tension settled over the remaining four like a wet blanket, all eyes swiveled toward Pidge. Hunk seemed uneasy and nervous like he typically was after these kinds of arguments. Allura was sizing her up, wondering what she’d say or how she’d react this time. Lance had his head cocked, chin jutting out some, eyes blazing with her usual challenge of his stance.

Instead, Pidge brushed past all three of them and marched after Keith, one hand clenching her bayard with enough force that it should have cracked.

She followed after him for quite some time, wanting to put as much distance between them and the others in the training room as possible. She didn’t want this conversation being interrupted by the others. Finally she skid to a stop and barked out, “Hey!”

He stopped and slowly turned, his helmet tucked under one arm and his expression the usual mask of calm indifference that he’d been schooling it in to as of late; or, more specifically, since he’d had to take over the task of piloting Black Lion and leading their team. “What is it, Pidge?” He asked, his tone again that restrained calm he used all the time.

The face and tone he used to try and imitate _him_ ; the one that got under her skin in just the _wrong way_.

There was still a good amount of space between them, but she made quick work of that; walking right up, yanking off her helmet, and standing on her toes to get right in his face. “When are you going to start using that brain I know you have and lead this team like I know you can?” She growled lowly.

His eyes spark to life at that – a glimmer of the Keith she was used to dealing with shining through – and his lips twitched like he wanted to scowl or snarl or do _something_ other than this sad attempt at appearing neutral. “That’s what I’m trying to do, Pidge, but it doesn’t-!”

“No, you _aren’t_! You’re not trying to lead at all; you’re just trying to _fake it_ until you _make it_! There’s a _huge difference_!” She cut in quickly, managing to keep her volume low despite wanting to scream right in his face.

He reared back a step or two to try and get away from her but she pursued, as if this was all some odd dance or game to her. She could see it further frustrate him and she took pride in that; that was her whole point, after all. “Look, if you think you can do a better job, than by all means try!” He growled back, his tone clipped and tight and just what she wanted from him. This was the sign that she’d cracked through the armor and exposed a point she could use.

“Oh, I’m sure I _could_ lead the team better,” She said with a small laugh, “but I also know that _you’d_ be the better leader between the whole of us here.”

He blinked and shook his head in bewilderment, glaring down at her. “But you _just said_ -!”

“ _Keep up with me_ , Keith, and what I’m _actually_ saying instead of just _ignoring_ it. I said _you’d_ be a better leader and _I mean it_. _You – Keith Kogane – you_!” She nearly shouted.

“What the _Hell_ do you think I’ve been _trying_ to do for _nearly three months_ , Pidge?” He roared back, having finally snapped, pressing in closer to get right in her face. It was an act meant to intimidate her to give in and back off, but they both knew it wouldn’t work. Pidge knew that calling him on his bluff would only prove it was nothing but a bluff; despite what other people might think, Keith could never _actually_ hurt someone whom didn’t _genuinely_ deserve it.

“You’ve been acting like a toddler wearing his Daddy’s boots, is what you’ve been doing. _You aren’t Shiro_ _so stop trying to act like you are_ ,” She hissed out in a softer tone. It lacked the antagonistic nature of her previous statements but it hit much harder, judging by how she could see something behind Keith’s eyes crack at the words.

She had been biting her tongue while still lashing out for months and she was finally done playing pretend. She had decided to let it go when Keith became more fixated on tracking down information about his own heritage than the bigger picture of what they, as Team Voltron, were supposed to be doing. She had not screamed or fussed or called him out as the hypocrite that he was despite how much she would have liked to at the time. She could be petty, but not to a fault. Kicking the poor guy while he was already down was far from a rational decision, so she had dropped it.

When they found the empty Black Lion and abandoned black bayard, she had swallowed down the pain of losing their leader like it was a bitter medicine and resumed her usual behaviors much sooner than the other Paladins had. They had all looked to her as if there was something wrong with her – Lance even going so far as to accuse her of not caring at all – but she was simply different than them because she knew better. She wasn’t like Allura and Coran, where everything was still fresh and new and each casualty was like reopening a wound. She wasn’t like Lance or Hunk, where loss was relatively uncommon for them so a grieving process was needed.

Pidge was a problem solver first and dealt with things as necessary; she had confronted as much of her grief head on as needed within the first few days of each loss and the taken action to resolve her problems. She had already shed her tears over losing her Dad and Matt, replaying old memories until she had nearly driven herself mad with her angst. She had already confronted the agony that was leaving her Mom behind without any explanation; accepted the horrific realization that her mother probably thought her only remaining child dead and gone forever, too. She turned those emotions – pointless emotions, in her opinion – into motivation to calculate tactics and reach solutions. So losing Shiro? Well, he was just another drop in the bucket for her.

She had figured that Keith would need some time to process, because she understood that Shiro was all Keith had left; she hadn’t expected him to respond to it all by trying to emulate him, though.

She watched and waited as her words fully set in for him. His whole body was shaking and his eyes were as wide as dinner plates, watery and frightened and so vulnerable. The part of herself that she wanted nothing to do with ached for him and resented herself for taking this approach. “Shiro didn’t want you to take over as leader just so that you could try and become him and you know it. He picked you because you could be just as effective in your own, unique way as he was. Shiro had a different style and a different way to lead that worked best for him; you don’t have to be just like him to be just as effective as him,” She let her tone soften even further, to a place she hadn’t been in a long time. She almost wanted to walk away herself, because she could feel her own walls breaking despite herself.

“Do you think you’re the only one that still misses Shiro?”

_She remembered how Shiro had smiled and promised her that they’d find her family; how she had decided then that she would listen to him, because he was the first person in years to not brush off her goals. She remembered Shiro explaining the reason behind why he attacked Matt back in the Galran coliseum; saving his life and creating a debt that she knew she’d never be able to come close to repaying. She remembered how Shiro had been the one to get Keith to stand down when she wanted to leave to find her Dad and Matt; he’s been the first person to respect her conviction and the one to judge her the least for it._

“Do you think you’re the only one who has had to make sacrifices?”

_She remembered how hard it had been to sneak out of the house to leave for the Garrison, knowing that her Mom was asleep and unaware upstairs; she knew she would be subjecting her mother to a parent’s greatest nightmare and knew she could never offer enough “I’m sorry”s to ever make up for it. She remembered her Mom’s face as she held her shoulders and begged her to leave the Garrison be after being returned home in the back of a police cruiser; her poor mother was so broken from already losing so much and so terrified to lose her Katie-Kat too. She remembered how her mother had clutched her hand throughout the funeral; whispering softly at her to please behave herself any time she tried to shout out about the deceit of the Garrison’s reports._

“Do you think you’re the only one who has had to lose people that matter more than the world to them?”

_She remembered her Dad and Matt at their last family dinner; Matt’s usual light wit helping maintain a cheery atmosphere and her Dad assuring her of her own impending greatness. She remembered her Dad helping her put together a small hovercraft for one of her science fair projects; how he had been patient as he guided her hand through how to properly use each tool and didn’t scold her when she accidently used too much force with the hammer and broke what they’d built to that point. She remembered her Dad teaching her how to ride a bike without training wheels; his hand resting between her shoulders as he kept pace, and only released when she said she thought she got it._

_She remembered post-Holiday treat exchanges with Matt; the two of them sitting on their beds in their respective rooms across the hallway with their doors open, whispering suggestions and tossing bite-sized treats back and forth through only the dim glow of their nightlights. She remembered staying up late in the summer to play video games together; could still remember the two of them pumping their fists and screeching in delight to the point they woke up their parents after finally defeating Maleficent when they first played through Kingdom Hearts. She remembered riding their bikes to the ice cream parlor a few block away; how Matt would always insist on treating her with the money he made doing house chores for their neighbors, regardless of if their parents tossed her a few bucks to cover herself._

“You aren’t the only one. And I get it, okay? I know how that feels; like up is down and dogs are cats and nothing is right anymore. But you can’t get caught up in that and lose yourself too. Please… What we need right now isn’t Shiro; what we need right now is Keith,” She said, holding his gaze the whole time she spoke, forcing herself to keep her head above the tidal wave of memories.

He stared at her, turning her words over in his mind for a minute, before he let out a strangled wheezing sound. He lurched forward and dropped his head to her shoulder, his body quaking. She let her head slip to the side, resting against his, and he sought out one of her hands. “What am I supposed to do?” He choked out, voice cracking and wavering with repressed sobs.

She squeezed his hand gently. “You know how to keep the others focused and motivated through your own means. Just… Just do things the way that you want to,” She said softly.

“And what if they still don’t listen?”

“Oh, then don’t worry; I’ll straighten them out for you,” She said bluntly. She felt him let out a small laugh, and she closed her eyes and felt a small smile turn up on her lips.

Hopefully having her on his side would be enough for now.


	9. Mother of Invention

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kidge Week 2017 Day Three Prompt Fill. Vague sequel to the previous chapter but can also work as a solo fic. Just Pidge helping Keith placate some aliens that thought they were happy under the Galra’s control.

Much to Keith’s shock, not every planet they liberated form the Galra were happy about it.

Surdanrina was one such example. It was a planet of humid marshes and lumbering towers erected in honor of high-ranking fallen Galran commanders. The indigenous people were sleek canine creatures – similar to what he always envisioned a werewolf would look like - and seemed to have no idea of where to go without a Galran barking at them. It shouldn’t be too surprising, admittedly; the Surdanrinese had wanted no part in Voltron’s liberation plan.

That was what their leader, Xiona, began insisting as they watched the Galran flee, anyway.

“You care not for what you have done, do you?” She asked, her tone surprisingly calm and even despite the crescendo of caterwauling erupting from her people behind them. She indicated behind her with one paw-like appendage, at the towers and other buildings that had fallen in the tussle. “You have caused great damage. You have taken away our rulers. You have separated us from the only life we have known, and for what? Because you think you are doing us a great service? Understand that we will not accept this debt to you.”

Lance scoffed and rushed over, shoving his face far too close to Xiona’s snout for comfort, and poked her in the shoulder. “We just freed you from being _slaves_! A little gratitude would be nice!” He snapped back.

Keith grabbed the back of his armor and yanked backwards roughly. “Lance, _back off_!” He growled lowly, turning his attention back to Xiona.

Xiona, however, had dropped the pretense of accommodation. Her lip curled up on the left side to reveal two sets of jagged fangs. “ _Gratitude_? For _what_? Taking action _we asked you_ to _refrain from_? Why should we show gratitude for that?” She spat back, shifting forward as if to make an attack at Lance. Keith steeled himself, hand twitching toward his bayard in preparation of defending his teammate, but a light, tinkling laugh caused all eyes to turn toward his left.

Pidge was stretched out along Green’s tail, curled around her like a makeshift hammock, and watching the scene unfurl before her. “Don’t you see the opportunity set before you now?” She asked.

Xiona’s left ear twitched, the twin gold rings piercing the flesh as a sign of her status clacking together softly, and her gaze softened just a bit. “How do you mean, Green Paladin?”

“You can choose how to live now,” She said, rolling on to her side. Green’s tail shifted to wrap around her waist, setting her safely on the ground. She lightly jogged over, still wearing a small smile.

Golden eyes met amber before narrowing. “We have been fine like this for centuries. We had not wanted this change,” She said, her body pivoting to fully face Pidge.

Keith felt his heart rate pick up and his hand wrapped around his bayard in a vice grip.

“But now you can break free of the rut the Galra trapped you in,” She said, walking to look over the peak they were standing on to watch as Allura and Hunk tried to calm the panicking natives below. She took a deep breath; the first one she’d really taken since they’d finished the battle. “You can move forward.”

“You are not listening or choosing to ignore my meaning, Green Paladin. _We did not want this change_!” Xiona growled, her anger sparking back up.

“Let me put it to you another way, Xiona. Why do the seasons of your planet change?” Pidge said, turning back around to face the three of them again. Lance and Keith exchanged confused glances before turning back to look at her.

She blinked, ears shooting upright in surprise, before she wrinkled her nose. “The seasons… The change is necessary,”

“Okay, but _why_ is it necessary?”

“It… It is necessary. The reason is as simple as that,” She said with a shake of her head.

“Well do you think it’s something _all_ the creatures on this planet _want_? Do you think the foliage of the planet _wants_ to die when it gets too cold? Or do you think that smaller wildlife _wants_ to die to feed bigger, stronger wildlife and their young when mating seasons roll around?” She pressed back. Something seemed to click for the Surdanrinese leader, her eyes widening and focusing solely on Pidge. “Sometimes it isn’t about what you _want_ , but rather what is _necessary_. The Galra were keeping you and your people under their thumb and refusing to let you grow. This is the chance for you and your people to grow, though! You’ll need to relearn how to be independent, and it’s scary, but it’s thrilling, too.”

Xiona hummed vaguely but didn’t vocalize a response, which only spurred Pidge on.

“You and your people are capable of doing great things, Xiona, and I don’t know why you don’t want that! I mean, the opportunity to grow… To advance… The chance to willingly change like the world around you… The gift of free will… Isn’t that a _beautiful thing_?”

Slowly Xiona dipped her head and pressed her muzzle against the side of Pidge’s face – an act, Allura had mentioned, that was a sign of great trust and respect in Surdanrinese culture – then glanced back at Keith and Lance. “I believe I understand now why you have done this, and I would like to offer my apologies for my previous statements. What you have done is given us a gift and I was foolish to reject it,” She said gently as she stood back up, her previous air of inner calm and regality returning.

“We’ll stay and help clean up the damage we caused to your buildings,” Keith said quickly.

She smiled and shook her head, turning her attention back over the peak at her people. “If I may ask another favor, would you instead tear the rest down and help us gather the reusable materials? I believe that it is Yvolarn for my people and I,” She said with a small smile.

Keith wasn’t exactly sure what the last part meant, but he smiled back gently as Pidge approached him and Xiona howled to call her people to attention. “Thank you,” He said softly to Pidge.

She grinned up at him and shrugged. “What can I say? I’m the biggest supporter of advancement,” She mused with a wink.


	10. It's All a Farce, Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kidge Week 2017 Day Four Prompt Fill. Lance has too much faith in his teammates. Pidge and Keith are oblivious to their own feelings.

“Oh, I am _so_ on to _both of you_ ,”

His answer didn’t come in a frantic, embarrassed denial like he had been sort of hoping; but, rather, a quirked eyebrow and annoyed scowl. “What are you talking about, Lance?” Pidge asked bluntly before returning her attention to the calculations she’d been working out on her computer. His ambush had come out of nowhere and she – having been awake all night finishing up the last bit of repairs on Red and starting the diagnosis on Yellow – wasn’t really in the mood for his strange games.

“ _You and Keith_! How you two are all… _You know_ ,” He said, gesturing wildly about him, as if that would articulate his point better than words.

“We’re all _what_? What are you trying to say?” She asked incredulously.

Lance huffed indignantly, shook his head, and then shifted to hold his hands up in her face. He had folded his fingers over his thumb on both hands, the way one might hide their hand when making a sock puppet to entertain a toddler. “Mweh mweh mweh,” He said in an almost sing-song tone, bringing up the pitch of his to a poor attempt at a falsetto, flapping the fingers of his left hand to imitate talking.

He then shifted the right hand closer to the left. “Mweh. Mweh mweh mweh,” He said, repeating the action with his right hand but dropping the volume of his voice this time. He then opened his fingers to represent open mouths, then slammed his hands together and made aggressive kissing noises.

Pidge blinked once, slowly, and then wrinkled her nose a bit at the whole display. “I… Sorry, but I’m still not following,” She said bluntly.

“You’ve _got_ to be messing with me! _No one_ is that oblivious! Are you just _trying_ to make me look stupid?” Lance wailed in distress.

“Don’t answer that; it’s a trick question,” Keith suddenly chimed in as he walked into the room. He was carrying a small plate and glass of milk as he approached, wearing a small smirk at the angry flush creeping up along Lance’s cheeks. He then set the plate and glass down on Pidge’s work table while peering over her shoulder. “Did Red give you any trouble last night?”

She perked up and hummed vaguely, picking up the bagel-like object with some kind of neon green spread atop it from the plate. With Hunk’s impressive palate and culinary skills, he had started figuring out ways to combine ingredients they found from the planets they visited to recreate some Earth cuisine. One of the best things he’d discovered was how to make breads, bagels, croissants and cinnamon rolls. It didn’t taste completely right – and all bread-based items typically tended up with a dark blue coloration to it – but it was close enough to help ward off the homesickness they all occasionally dealt with.

Hunk had even figured out how to make a pseudo-peanut butter too.

“Red was surprisingly well-behaved, despite you not being around to coerce her to be good,” Pidge said, her tone light and playful before she took a bite of the bagel. She then took a sip of the milk and smiled. “And thanks for the food; you even remembered which topping I like.” She mused lightly.

“Well, since I didn’t end up staying up late to help you keep Red in line and I know you tend to space on this kind of stuff, I figured it was the least I could do,” He said with a small shrug. He then grinned and nudged her chair with his hip. “Besides, if I had put anything else on the bagel, you probably would have just thrown it in my face.”

“Hey now! If anyone it liable to throwing a fit over the treatment of food, it’s Hunk and you know it!” She said with a teasing grin.

Lance covered his face with his hands and let out a long, annoyed groan, causing Pidge and Keith to turn their attention back to him.

“What’s his problem?” Keith asked, crossing his arms and leaning back against the table of her desk.

She snorted and shrugged, taking another bite of her bagel. “I have no idea. He tried to articulate it using his hands,” She said, setting her bagel down to imitate what Lance had done with his hands. Keith glanced blandly from her hands to her face, his brow slowly raising. “Yeah I have no idea.” She snorted before picking her bagel back up and resuming eating.

“You two are _seriously_ just playing with my head! You _can’t_ pretend you _don’t_ get it!” He snapped angrily.

“Don’t get _what_?” Keith asked bluntly.

“ _You two_! You’re, like, _totally_ a thing! You guys have a thing going on and you can’t fool me!”

“A thing? What ‘thing’ do you mean?” Keith asked, using air quotes.

“Now you’ve given him an excuse to bother us further, you fool,” Pidge said flatly around a mouthful of bagel.

“You two are totally crushing on each other! Don’t deny it; I’m a master of all things romance!” He snapped, pointing a finger between them each accusingly. He then held up one hand and started ticking off his points. “Constantly hang out with each other-!”

“Gee, it’s almost like we have similar interests or something,” Pidge snorted.

Lance opted to ignore her. “You’re always whispering and giggling with each other!”

“Only because Shiro said that we shouldn’t be talking smack where everyone could hear us,” Keith cut in.

“And you’re always doing stuff like this for each other! Pidge always fixes Red up before she even does diagnosis on any of the other Lions, she always does upgrades for your bayard before the rest of us, and other stuff! And then you, Keith,” He huffed, pointing from Pidge to the darker haired male, “You’re always taking extra time to help Pidge with her physical fighting skills, sitting in here with her when she’s working, and bringing her snacks and drinks and whatever! You can’t tell me that you don’t have a crush on each other!” He blurted out frantically.

Pidge and Keith slowly looked at each other and started laughing outright. “You’re _kidding_ , right? We’re _teammates_! That’s what you’re _supposed_ to do!” Keith snickered

Pidge nodded through her giggles. “Hell, everything you said can be easily waved off if you apply logic to it! I repair Red Lion first because Red usually takes the most damage in battle; and, even more than that, if we get attacked before I can fix all the others, Red is the fastest so she could do the most damage quickly if we needed to escape. I do upgrades for Keith’s bayard first because he’s usually still up when I’m ready to start making them, so it’s a matter of convenience,” She explained, still grinning at Lance in that mocking way of hers.

“She pretty much hit the nail on the head. Pidge isn’t outright awful at hand-to-hand combat, but her technique can be a bit sloppy, so it makes more sense that I just help her clean it up. I hang out with her in here because it’s usually calm and peaceful, and she’s a workaholic. If someone didn’t bring her food, she’d probably die,” Keith pointed out as his own laughing fit started to die down.

“Oh, please. I can take care of myself, you know,” Pidge said with a small laugh.

“I’m well aware, but just because you _can_ doesn’t mean that you _will_ ,” He responded calmly.

“Hmm. You know me too well, Mr. Kogane,” She hummed in amusement before turning her attention back to her work.

Lance watched the exchange than threw his hands up. “You know what? _Fine_! Go on ahead and keep _pretending_ like I’m wrong! You’re gonna feel _real stupid_ when you eventually end up dating!” He snapped before storming out. Most likely to find Hunk and whine about how Keith and Pidge were being ridiculous and trying to deny the logical conclusions of his expert investigation.

“What a spazz,” Pidge said without looking up.

Keith snorted and nodded. “Understatement of the century there,” He agreed while staring at the hanger doors. Though neither of them saw it, they were both now spotting a bit of a blush and working over the same thought.

_How the Hell did Lance figure out how I feel?_


	11. Or Lack There of

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kidge Week 2017 Day Five Prompt Fill. Direct sequel to the previous chapter. Lance can’t catch a break, and Pidge and Keith are both immature little brats.

He had been absolutely right and he had enjoyed knowing that fact for all of eighteen hours.

After a particularly grueling battle and some serious damage done to all of them, a huge argument had erupted between Pidge and Keith – though he couldn’t exactly remember exactly, he was pretty sure it was something about Green and Pidge taking a few shots meant for Red and Keith – that even Shiro couldn’t placate. They had all stood there, awkward and confused, while Keith and Pidge shouted each other down with accusations. Accusing each other of thinking the other was too weak to protect themselves, or doubting each other’s piloting abilities, or that the other was too impulsive to keep themselves safe. Lance had found a lot of their accusations to be hypocritical – after all, he could think of no other individuals quite as stubborn and reckless as the two of them – but he had watched with excitement.

Lance knew how confessions between two extremely stubborn people typically went.

So when Pidge finally blurted out, “Did you ever think it’s not an issue of not trusting you, and more _worrying_ about you? I’ve already lost so many people that mean a lot to me; I _don’t_ want to _lose you too_!” Lance had to clamp his hands over his mouth to muffle his excited squeal. She glared Keith down for a moment while he stared at her in surprise, then slowly she seemed to realize what she had said.

It was at that point, as Keith uttered a small, “You’re not the only one that worries, you know. I don’t want to lose you either,” that Shiro ushered the rest of the team away to give them some privacy. About an hour later, they emerged and discussed with Shiro and Allura whether or not pursuing a relationship would be accepted. Under the agreement that they wouldn’t let their personal feelings for one another hinder their ability to pilot and work with the team, they said that Pidge and Keith could date.

Lance had been over the moon when he heard that. After all, two of his best friends were finally dating! They had been dancing around one another for months and, while admittedly he admired their dance steps, he was growing tired. He knew that they could be The Arms of Voltron™, the ultimate power couple! The universe would _quake_ beneath the might of their love and dedication!

Or, rather, that was what he thought until it actually _happened_.

Watching them as an actual couple, interacting day-to-day, was just embarrassing.

He growled as he watched Pidge walk into the small kitchen area, stifling a yawn but flashing a sleepy smile at Keith. He was starting up the make-shift coffee maker Hunk and Pidge had developed to get a pot going. “Morning, Honey Bun,” She mumbled as she leaned up on her tiptoes to press a kiss to his cheek.

He smiled, swooped an arm around her waist, and pulled her close to press a kiss to her cheek as well. “Morning, Baby Doll,”

She giggled lightly and slipped out of his grasp to get a plate and make herself some food. She grabbed the loaf of dark blue bread they had and popped two pieces into the toaster she and Hunk had rigged up. “Have you eaten yet, Buttercup?” She asked.

“Not yet, Sugarlump,” He answered as the coffee finally started brewing. He reached into a nearby cabinet and pulled out some mugs.

Lance scowled and bit in to his breakfast bagel with more gusto than necessary. At first he thought the way they interacted was kind of cute and made sense; after all, neither of them had really been in a relationship before and Lance knew the magic of the honeymoon stage quite well. He just didn’t understand what was happening with these two, given it had been several weeks since they finally got together and the newness of the relationship should have been starting to settle down. But they were still just so… _Cutesy_. A small part of him wondered if maybe they’d been infected by some weird virus that caused their affection for one another to escalate to uncharacteristic displays of affection. They were just always saying ridiculous nicknames and snuggling up to each other and just being so… _Disgusting cute_ to one another. He had wanted them to hook up because he could see them being good for each other. After all, neither of them should have to compromise who they were to be in a relationship.

They fell in with each other so naturally. But now? He just found the whole thing between them _uncomfortable_.

Pidge got out the pseudo-peanut butter and pseudo-cream cheese, tossing a bagel in the toaster once her toast popped out. She fell into casual chatter about some project to be completed with Hunk, who was settled beside Lance at the table having his own breakfast, but Lance didn’t really pay attention to their chatter. He instead watched as Pidge and Keith prepared one another’s meal and coffee respectively. Pidge used a generous amount of their imitation cream cheese – as was Keith’s preference – while Keith added only a small spoonful of sugar to Pidge’s cup of coffee – as was her preference – and Lance shoved another mouthful of bagel down his own gullet to keep back from making some snarky comment.

This was the kind of thing he was used to seeing from them! Not everything else they seemed so fixated on doing lately!

They settled in across from him and Hunk and pulled their chairs closer together – practically sitting on the same seat, they were so ridiculous! – and snuggled up. “Thank you, Shnookums,” Keith mused lightly as they swapped the plate with the bagel and the cup of coffee.

“My pleasure, Cotton Candy Butt,” Pidge hummed back happily.

Lance slammed his hands down on the table and stood, sending his chair to the ground with a loud screech and clatter. “Okay, that’s it! I’m done! You’ve broken me! What the Hell kind of pet name is ‘Cotton Candy Butt’?” He snapped while turning abruptly and storming out. They could still hear him shouting about the sheer lunacy going on around him as he left.

Hunk stared at where Lance had been and then slowly turned back to look at the other two young teens. The two of them were laughing as they scooted to a more respectable distance, but still settling in close. “That was pure perfection, Pidge,” Keith said, holding up a fist toward her.

She grinned widely and bopped his fist in response with her own. “Only because I had a wonderful partner to work with,”

Hunk blinked then slowly raised an eyebrow. “Wait… I’m so confused. Aren’t you two normally… Like… Inseparable?”

“That’s how we _want_ it to seem. Honestly, we just do it because it bothers Lance,” Keith said with a small shrug, taking a bite from his bagel.

Pidge sipped her coffee and nodded. “We were just waiting to see how far we could push him before he stopped whining to Shiro about it and actually confronted us himself,” She said calmly.

“So you being all… Lovey with each other?” Hunk asked.

“Whether or not we’re cuddly and affectionate in private is really no one’s business. I can tell you that neither of us really likes PDA, but we’ve been enjoying teasing Lance with it,” Keith chimed with another small shrug.

“Exactly. I mean, being in a relationship shouldn’t change how we interact that much. We liked each other the way we were; why should we all of a sudden be all googly-eyed at each other just because we’ve changed the definition of our relationship?” Pidge hummed in agreement, sipping her coffee calmly. Her hand closest to Keith slipped off the table discretely, letting it hang beside her. Keith noticed the action and shifted his own hand to gently loop their pinky fingers together under the table.

Hunk noticed as well, but decided not to say anything. He wasn’t going to bruise the little love birds’ egos’.


	12. Here Comes the Boom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kidge Week 2017 Day Six Prompt Fill. Pidge and Keith get assigned to save a hostage and it doesn’t go quite as planned.

Getting separated from the team was always a risky, stressful situation.

It was worse when he was on his own, but this time he at least had Pidge with him; albeit with the addition of a native toddler, but it was still better than being alone. They had landed on a planet under Galra control and been able to convince the native people – Trabbotians, as he recalled – to agree to help them fight. Their young Prince had made one request, however; rescue the young Prince’s beloved baby neice, whom had been kidnapped and held hostage by the Galra in a recent attempt at rebellion by the people.

“Please,” Prince Antecrodius had pleaded in a shaky, tearful tone, “dear Vonnettella is the only kin I have left in this world. Perhaps it is wrong of me to ask strangers such as yourselves to help right a mistake I myself made, but I… I cannot stand the thought of what those fiends could be doing to her.”

Keith had reached out and settled a hand on the other male’s shoulder. “We’ll do all we can to get Vonnettella back for you,” He promised the other, smiling gently at the grateful tears in the other’s large, dark eyes.

The plan was to take Red in and save the small Trabbotian child, as Red was the fastest. Pidge had gone along to assist in hacking into the ship and tracking the child down. She hadn’t been very hard to find once they hacked inside; she was wailing something fierce and there was a heavy sentry guard set in front of her cell. Keith made quick work of the sentries while Pidge hacked open the doors. Vonnettella had been cowering in the far corner, her little ears tipped down and nearly invisible in her hair. The poor thing was terrified and had to be carried out by Pidge, too afraid to even unfurl form the ball she’d formed.

It was when they got back into Red that things went awry.

The Galra had sent out an entire fleet to chase after Red alone while the other three tried to defer fire. Keith and Red had tried their best to get away – using every little piloting trick they had up their sleeve to sneak away – but in the end luck wasn’t on their side. The sky of the planet had grown dark, and just then it began a downpour. One strong flash of lightening came down right along the back of Red’s neck, sending her systems into overdrive before fizzling out. As they went down, Keith had grabbed Pidge to pull her and Vonnettella closer to him, hoping to keep them both from receiving too many injuries in the crash.

Thankfully enough, they were mostly just shaken up as opposed to hurt by the rough landing. Red had just enough energy to get herself upright and get them a cave to hide in before her body gave up and she slumped to the ground. “You okay, girl?” He asked worriedly.

He felt gentle reassurance from Red in the back of his mind just before her shield flickered to life; it wasn’t much comfort, but it did help him feel a bit better. He turned to look at Pidge, whom had shifted away from him a bit to lean against one of the walls of the cockpit and slide down. Vonnettella clutched tighter to Pidge, letting out a nervous little whimper. “Shiro, it’s Pidge. How are things out there?” She asked into her helmet. Keith felt concern when he only heard her words as they echoed around the cockpit as opposed to in his helmet as well. She waited then winced a bit and tugged off her helmet. “I think my communicator got knocked out of place or something. Any word over yours?”

He tried checking his own but only received static. He shook his head at her then leaned closer to look at Vonnettella worriedly. “No word. How is she holding up?” He asked.

Pidge turned her attention toward the small Trabbotian in her arms. The Trabbotians were similar to what fauns were typically portrayed as, only the animal attributes were not based on goats but rather deer. Vonnettella had curled her little deer-like legs into her chest and her ears twitched up briefly when she realized they were both looking at her. “You doing okay?” Pidge asked, reaching up to gently push some hair out of her face.

The small child responded by pointing and opening her mouth and letting out a small squeak.

“Are… Are you hungry?” Keith asked as he got out of the pilot’s chair and approached them.

She turned and looked at him, ears flopping back down a bit before nodding meekly.

“Do you have any rations? Would the rations even be safe for her to eat? Did you happen to catch how similar to human… Er, Altean… Genetics the Trabbotian are?” Pidge asked worriedly, glancing from Keith to Vonnettella.

“No, but I’m sure there’s gotta be something in here that she can eat,” He said with a small sigh, heading over to the small emergency kit they all kept in their Lions. Inside they kept first aid kits, emergency flares, small food rations and other such items, just in case they needed them. He opened his own food ration kit and rummaged through. There were a few packages of some kind of jerky, some juice pouches, but also a few granola bar-esque item. It was mostly fruits and nuts so he figured that’d be his best bet, since he wasn’t sure if Trabbotians were herbivores. He grabbed two bars, a juice pouch, and headed over to join Pidge and Vonnettella. “Here, let’s see how this treats you.” He said, tearing open one of the bars and offering it to her.

She took it and started chowing down with such eagerness that it was heartbreaking. “Were they even _feeding_ her?” Pidge grumbled angrily as he settled down beside her.

“Probably not enough,” He said as he punctured the pouch with the straw. Vonnettella perked up and licked her lips a bit, having already devoured the bar and abandoned the wrapped in her lap. She tried to reach for the other bar but he offered her the juice pouch instead. “Here, have a sip or two of this first, sweetie.” He said softly.

She whimpered but took the juice pouch, chugging down half of it before pointing at the bar again. Pidge hummed as she watched Keith open the second bar and switch it with the pouch. “You’re really good with kids,” She commented quietly.

He perked up and shrugged. “It’s not hard. You just be nice to kids,” He said gently. He then looked over toward Red’s eyes and stared out at the downpour outside. “Huh, it’s really coming down out there. Hopefully it lets up soon.” He mumbled.

“Ta’tol,” Vonnettella mumbled softly, a hint of a needy whine to her tone. With their communicators down, they couldn’t exactly understand the language of the Trabbotians, but they had a thought of what she was implying.

“She must miss her family. I mean, last time she saw them they were in battle with the Galra,” Pidge chimed softly.

Keith hummed and reached down to gently ruffle Vonnettella’s hair. She perked up and looked up at him curiously. “We’re gonna get you back to your family. This storm will blow over soon enough and then you can go home where it’s safe. I promise,” He said, gentle and passionate. She watched him, her light brown eyes shining in a mix of confusion from being unable to understand him. It seemed, however, that his point got across through tone as her ears perked up and she smiled back at him after a moment.

He and Pidge exchanged small smiles of their own, leaning their shoulders against one another, and hunkering down to wait it out.


	13. Sweater Weather

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kidge Week 2017 Day Seven Prompt Fill. Inspired by the song of the same title by The Neighborhood.

It was the little things about her that he loved the most.

When the Galra had finally fallen and the Paladins could return to normal lives – or, as normal as you could get when you were an intergalactic hero for truth and justice – Keith and Pidge had chosen to stay on Earth and help out with bringing Earth into Allura’s latest project of an intergalactic council to help prevent another massive takeover like what had happened with Zarkon. “By nature,” She had said, looking out at the stars in this tragic but resigned sort of way, “we Alteans have been the universal peace keepers and delegates. But it is apparent that approach was a huge aspect of why someone like Zarkon was able to rise. He had power and influence and my Father wanted to believe more in his friend than see the enemy he was becoming. I want to avoid history repeating itself in that way.”

Shiro, Lance and Hunk had decided that they would continue piloting their Lions to seek out other societies that would be willing to join. Keith and Pidge would still continue to be Paladins – Green and Red staying on Earth with them – but they would focus on getting Earth caught up with Altean tech. Keith took on a job working as a messenger between the United Nations and Allura and the other Paladins. It wasn’t a particularly glamourous or exciting job, but it felt good to be something more mundane but just as significant after all his years as a Paladin. Pidge, meanwhile, had bene hired on as a director for design and development by the Garrison, to help streamline their technology. She had laughed like a maniac when she found out this put her in a position of authority above Commander Iverson.

Pidge lasted two weeks before she fired Iverson just to secure Keith’s victory worth 500 bucks in a betting pool between the other Paladins.

When they had decided to stay and secured their professions, it then became a question of where they should live. Most of Keith’s work was done via video conferences and the like – though there was the occasional requirement to fly out of the country or atmosphere – while Pidge was usually needed down to be physically present. In the end, they had agreed on living in Washington to appease them both; Pidge was close to the main Garrison base without having to deal with the asinine heat of the main training base, while Keith got to live somewhere that permitted him to maintain his hobbies of hikes and mountain climbing without the risk of heatstroke.

He had been mulling the thought over while at the grocery store. He had been out helping Shiro deal with a particularly hostile race for a whole three days and, upon returning to Earth, decided that it might be good to restock the house. Years by Pidge’s side had taught him that she was a workaholic in the worst ways, and was also extremely lazy when it came to cooking when she was focused on something. They’d been running low on food when he got the call to leave, and he knew she wouldn’t have gone shopping on her own.

He did, however, know that their laundry would be recently washed and folded, and that the bedding would most likely still be in the dryer when he got home. Pidge had confessed that she did it because the sheets would lose his scent when he was gone for multiple days, and she loved nothing more than nestling up with him under freshly laundered sheets when he got back. She claimed that the sheets would retain his scent better if they’d just been washed – been _adamant_ that there was a _genuine, scientific_ rational behind it – and he let her have that one. He found it cute that she took comfort in him just as much as he took in her.

After all, he barely got any sleep when he was aware; years of sharing the space and warmth with a familiar form had spoiled him.

Specifically, the thought occurred to him as he traded a crisp five dollar bill with a Girl Scout for a box of Tagalongs. It was just so typical of him to get her something small like this and knew there’d most likely be a pint of mint chocolate chip ice cream waiting in the freezer for him. Pidge wouldn’t make a full trip to the grocery store but she always made time to hit the convenience store down the block the night before he came home to get his favorite cold treat. When he was younger, he had hated being forced to follow rules or fall into routines; Hell, it was a huge part of why he had washed out of the Garrison. The appeal of being a Paladin had been that it was familiar but every mission was different. There was always something that required him to think on his feet or try a new approach or just forced him to rush right in like he was prone to.

In yet, the routine of his relationship wasn’t one that caused him any of the visceral disdain or knee-jerk reactions like the ones of his past had. He didn’t want to think it was just because he’d gotten older and more mature because he still tended to handle most situations the same as his youth. He was less likely to rush to hostilities right away, but it was his very first course of action when communication broke down. He didn’t dwell on the thought too much longer, as rain started up.

He sprinted with the shopping cart across the parking lot to where Red was waiting for him. He still got a kick out of the excited faces of kids when they saw the giant mechanical lion just lying about like it was an everyday occurrence. Red opened her jaw and let him bring the whole cart in – he figured so long as he brought it back _eventually_ the store workers wouldn’t miss one cart – and he tied the handle to the cart to the back of his chair.

He and Pidge hadn’t needed to really buy their home – they were intergalactic heroes of truth and justice, after all – and simply been given enough land to accommodate the two of them and their two Lions. They’d designed the house and makeshift garage that the Lions lived in and, while it was all being built, lived in the Holt house. It had been nice getting closer to Pidge’s family for that brief time and he genuinely missed them. They had all accepted him so eagerly and readily and he hadn’t felt that in so long.

Being around the Holts had been just as easy as being with Pidge herself.

He got home in less than ten minutes and used the cart to bring everything in again, not wanting to take the time to make multiple trips. He chuckled as he rounded the corner that led from the garage to the hallway between the kitchen and main room to see Pidge sprawled out on the couch. Her computer was still open on the coffee table but the screen was dimly lit with the screen saver. She had pulled the plush throw blanket over herself so that only her feet – clad in pastel green socks with pink kitty heads all over them – were visible.

He hurried through putting away the groceries as quietly as he could, not wanting to wake Pidge up. The house wasn’t too terribly cold but there was a bit of a chill. A quick glance at the thermostat showed that Pidge hadn’t cranked up the heat like she was prone to doing, which proved she’d most likely just crashed after finishing a project. He thought about it for a moment before opting to leave the thermostat as it was and headed towards the fire place in the front room.

Once he finished getting the fire going, he turned to see Pidge peeking out through the blanket, some of her hair covering her eyes a little bit. “Welcome home,” She squeaked out through a yawn as she shifted to stretch out.

He laughed a bit. “Glad to be back. Been pulling a lot of all-nighters?” He mused, crawling over to settle on the ground beside the couch.

She reached out with one hand and gently patted his cheek, still a little too sleepy to fully comprehend his question. “S’mthin like that,” She said through another yawn. She watched the crackling fire for a moment then smiled slightly. “I’ll make dinner tonight. Any requests?” She mused.

Keith reached up and played with the fingers of her hand dangling by his face. “Hmm… Something easy would be nice. Maybe grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup?”

Pidge hummed as she shifted to sit upright, stretching again with another small whine. “Oh, that actually sounds really good,” She hummed.

He looked at her over his shoulder then grinned widely. “I think that belongs to me,” He said, tugging lightly at the hem of the sweater Pidge was wearing.

Shortly before the team separated, Lance took the time to knit matching sweaters for all of them. The sweaters were all their Lions colors – save for Allura and Coran, whom were given pink and orange sweaters respectively – and then, in the center, were white symbols that matched the ones that had been on their armor. He’d appreciated the gift for both the sentimental nature as well as enjoying the fact that they were durable and warm.

He also had to admit that his own sweater looked better on Pidge than him.

She quirked an eyebrow then shrugged her shoulders at him, her lips twitching up in a slow grin. “I needed to keep warm somehow. If you want it back so badly, come and get it,” She hummed, resting back against the couch.

He shifted up to rest on his knees and pressed a quick kiss to her lips. “Gladly,” He mused, settling his hands on her hips to pull her closer and kiss her again.


	14. Pick Me Up, Sweetheart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Request fill for Pidge and Keith swapping lame pick-up lines while making fun of Lance late into the night.

They were surprised no one had caught on to them yet, what with how often the situation occurred.

Keith and Pidge tended to gravitate towards being nocturnal to a degree none of the other Paladins could hold a candle to. For Pidge, it was that she’d gotten quite adept at running on five hours of sleep or less so that she could get as much work done as possible. When she’d been on Earth it had been from trying to uncover the secrets of the Garrison and hack their networks, while now it was more in regards to repairing the Lions or helping to develop new technology that could be implemented in combat against the Galra. For Keith, it was much more that he had to stay busy until he was so tired he would crash immediately, else he’d be plagued with nightmares reminding him of all his losses and failures. Long ago he would train and further hone his skills or settle in with a long book, but after he and Pidge bumped into one another in the kitchen one night, he had started joining her in the hanger.

And admittedly, he was grateful for it. Of all the other people on the ship, Pidge was surprisingly the easiest to talk to; next to Shiro, for the most part. She started teaching him some small, basic repairs he could do to Red during an emergency situation to assure they’d be able to at least stay safe long enough to send a distress flare or protect themselves against any immediate threats. In exchange, he helped walk Pidge through some defensive moves that could help her better incapacitate an assailant that had a lot of bulk and height on her. Spending a good chunk of his childhood dealing with much bigger bullies had given him experience that could be a lethal edge to more than just himself, he figured. Most of the time, though, they just ended up swapping stories and making jokes.

Usually their jokes were at the expense of other people. And - like so many times in the past - this time it happened to be Lance.

“I can’t believe you _missed_ it! It was one of the _worst_ instances of _secondhand embarrassment_ I’ve ever gotten from his terrible _attempts_ at flirting!” Pidge cackled, shifting her seat sideways to face Keith better.

He grinned and leaned one elbow against her desk, then rested his chin in that hand and raised an eyebrow at her. “Oh really? He’s really sunken that low?”

“You don’t understand, Keith. It was, like, leagues worse than his usual sad attempts. I don’t know where he even came up with this one!” She insisted.

“Well don’t keep me in suspense; what was this oh-so-terrifically awful pick-up line this time?”

She grinned wider, brown eyes flashing alive excitedly. She sat upright in her seat and shook out her hands, letting out a small breath and shaking her head. He had learned from the past that, when recounting stories, Pidge often liked to get into character. She leaned a bit closer to him with what was probably supposed to be a flirtatious smirk but came off more as her typical smug one. “Oh, baby, is there a magnet in here? Because _I_ am _attracted_ to _you_ ,” Pidge said, even tossing in a wink at the end.

One snort escaped Keith before he was doubled over, holding his stomach as he laughed outright. Pidge started out with small giggles but soon dissolved into heartier laughter as well. Lance had _honestly_ said that? Especially considering that the planet they’d just been on involved insect-esque beings that actually used some kind of magnetic system to make their homes and technology, and suddenly there was just an extra level of ridiculous tacked on. “Wow… He planned that one out _real well_ , didn’t he?” He said as he settled back in.

Pidge hummed in agreement, slumping against the back of her chair with a satisfied grin. “I do have to say this one probably takes the cake,” She agreed.

Keith smirked and leaned against her desk again, a thought coming to him. “Oh, I somehow doubt that. This is Lance we’re talking about; his flirting game can hit much further down than that,” He said.

Pidge quirked an eyebrow, intrigued by his comment. “Oh really? How so?”

Keith cleared his throat before reaching up with one hand and sweeping his bangs back and out of his face. He then curled the other around his chin and flashed her a look that was a dead-ringing for the one Lance wore while trying to charm others. “Are you from space? Because that booty is _out_. _Of_. _This_. _World_ ,” He said, even adding the same ridiculous airy tone to his voice that Lance did.

Pidge laughed so hard she nearly toppled backwards in her seat, saved by Keith catching one of the arm rests and one of the legs before she could go completely overboard with it. He started cracking up as well, flopping back in his own seat much like Pidge once she was upright again. She wiped at her eyes to rid herself of some stray tears and gently waved one hand. “Oh, wait! Wait! I’ve got one that I could totally see him using!” She said excitedly. She pointed at him with a finger gun and winked. “Am I the piece that finishes your puzzle?”

Keith let out a sharp bark of laughter of his own before managing to get out, “Are you a magician? Because when I look at you, everyone else disappears.”

“Is your Daddy a drug dealer? Cause, baby, you’re dope!”

“Was that an earthquake or did you just rock my world?”

“I used to be able to recite the entire alphabet but now I can’t get past U and I!”

“My love for you is like dividing by zero; it’s undefined!”

“Were you a Boy Scout? Cause you’ve tied my heart in a knot!”

“I’m no photographer, but I can picture us together!”

“Stop, drop, and roll, sweetheart; you’re on fire!”

They continued on like that for a while, trying their best to maintain their composure but losing it completely. Pidge ended up splayed out across her work table and Keith actually toppled out of his own chair, which only resulted in them both laughing even harder. She sat up and let out a long, drawn-out sigh of satisfaction. “Oh man, that was fun, but now I hunger. I’ll be right back with some snacks and drinks; make sure not to pass out on me while I’m gone,” She said with a grin. Once, in the past, Keith had fallen asleep when she’d stepped away for a bit, which had been a mistake. She took a marker to his face and doodled all over him; after all, being close didn’t mean he was free from her pranks and tricks.

“How am I supposed to hold on? I’ve already fallen for you,” Keith said while leaning one elbow against the table and looking at her.

Pidge sat up straight and snickered slightly at him. “Oh, you are smooth, Sir. Maybe Lance should take lessons from you,” She teased, elbowing him playfully before she stood from her seat.

“Yeah, maybe,” Keith answered but there was none of the previous mirth to his tone. She watched him for another moment – wounded that, for the first time in several months, he’d thrown his walls back up – before she huffed a bit and headed for the door. He didn’t say anything else to her as left, but she didn’t expect him to. Once before she’d accidentally touched on the subject of the mother he didn’t know and he’d snapped shut like a clam protecting a pearl.

Once she got into the hallway and the doors slid shut behind her, she let herself slump back against the wall. She scuffed the toe of one sneaker against the tiled flooring of the castle. “ _Why_ am I _so bad_ at this?” She mumbled, kicking herself for apparently setting him off. Then again, she shouldn’t be surprised; he probably didn’t want his jokes being compared to Lance’s authentic attempts at flirting.

In the hanger, Keith groaned and slumped against Pidge’s desk, fingers musing through his hair to try and calm him back down. “ _Why_ did I think that was going to work? _Of course_ it just came off like me using a stupid line!” He snapped quietly to himself.


	15. We Are Stars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Request fill for Pidge and Keith doing a little bit of dancing. Ended up a little sappier than I intended. Heavily inspired by a song of the same title by The Pierces.

She had done it again.

Pidge was normally a workaholic who focused more on her projects than maintaining her sense of personal care. It was something that he could relate and admire about her; within certain parameters, anyway. He had once watched her spend four days straight, running on nothing but these awful alien drinks that could only be described as Red Bull and Monster having some unholy love-child abomination together, to assist with some heavy repairs to an allied ship after a confrontation with a Galra fleet. It was obvious that her passion for technology and ability to learn about the most foreign of alien mechanisms was an asset to not only herself and their team, but the universe as a whole. Her being someone that would dedicate herself so fully to her work was another perk, revealing her under played attribute of reliability.

But there were points when she really did go a little overboard.

He had found her two other times passed out from one too many all-nighters working on new defenses for the castle or upgrades for the Lions and the like. The first time he’d found her like that, she had gotten defensive and confrontational immediately, escalating so that they were bickering with one another pretty aggressively. It had occurred only a short time after they had joined Team Voltron, before either of them had an understanding of the other, and shortly after Pidge had nearly left to go looking for her family. After having a bit of time to cool down and some bartering on Keith’s part, Hunk agreed to play mediator and got an answer as to what was up with her.

She’d been trying to stay distracted because her Dad’s birthday was a few days away.

Keith had sympathized immediately. Years after the fact, there were still days that he ached for his own Dad; the holidays and birthdays being significantly painful. Much like Pidge, he found things to keep himself distracted. He did, however, have someone he could trust and talk to when the feelings were too hard for him to bear alone in Shiro. And for Pidge? Well, if he had to reason a guess, he figured that Matt had probably been that person for her before Kerberos. The way she talked about her brother and father made it clear how much she loved and admired them. And with what little he knew about her time at the Garrison, she’d been more focused on her mission and goals than making any long standing friendships. She got on well enough with Lance and Hunk, but neither of them could offer up much information that she had willingly shared with them, and Pidge herself had been too preoccupied to pay attention whenever either of them had tried to share with her.

So Keith had sought her out and, very bluntly, told her that he had an idea of what she was going through and that he was there if she wanted to talk.

At first she’d seemed ready to reprimand him for his words, judging by how her mouth had curled halfway up in a defiant snarl, but the corner of her lips twitched in hesitation. She instead whipped around, shifting with the blueprints she’d been looking over with more gusto than necessary, and barked at him to leave her alone and stop wasting her time. He had yielded at that point, but two days later when Samuel Holt’s birthday was, he went and checked on her anyway. She was at her desk, body wound so tight he wondered how she hadn’t snapped in two, putting together some kind of small, round electronic device.

“Go. Away,” She had said, her tone flat and final and short.

“What are you working on?” Keith asked abruptly, walking over and leaning his hip against her work station, pointedly ignoring her words. Her hands halted briefly in their frenzied work of twisting the device this way or that, trying to get the two pieces to snap together, and she lifted her head to glare at him. The heavy bags under her eyes killed the effect she was going got a bit, but he opted not to call attention to it. He instead indicated the device with a dip of his head and calmly repeated, “What are you working on?”

Her eyes shifted from him to the device and then the blueprints before her, brows knit together in a mix of bemusement and frustration. He could practically hear the gears in his mind twisting and turning, trying to determine what angle he was coming at her from exactly. Slowly her gaze moved back to him and she held the device up so he could get a better look. “Well, I’m intending for it to be a sort of short-circuiting device,” She said calmly.

He nodded and hummed, pulling a spare chair over and sliding to sit a bit closer to her. “Wouldn’t that have bad repercussions for our team if we were too close when it went off?” He quizzed.

She rolled her eyes and her lips kicked up in a small smirk. “I’m not an amateur, you know. What I’m trying to do is key it up so that it can tell the difference between us and the enemy. It’ll be able to read our electrical signals and determine that we shouldn’t be effected and specifically target any device without a matching wavelength,” She said calmly. He watched as she grabbed a small screwdriver and began take the outer shell off of one, pointing and explaining how the mechanisms inside functioned. He understood a decent amount of what she was saying, but it wasn’t really why he’d asked.

The more she spoke, the more the tension in her body gradually relaxed, the spark in her eye kicking back up.

The next time she got in a funk like that had been the anniversary of when the Kerberos mission failure was announced. Keith himself understood the bitterness and anger bubbling inside her – he himself still struggled with the feelings that deceit left in him, even though he knew Shiro was alive and well – and once again took it upon himself to offer his assistance in the form of a distraction. They had just finished up a battle to free a Galra-controlled planet and the Lions were all pretty rough off. Hunk had sprained an ankle on the mission – an injury he insisted didn’t warrant a trip to the healing pods – and he had volunteered to help Pidge with the repairs in Hunk’s stead. Having someone to work with and help teach seemed to be a good way to get her mind off of things. Keith was well-versed in the basics of repairs and self-taught himself a bit in the way of mechanics, but Pidge was on a whole other level and learning some of her tricks was beneficial for him and seemed to be a stress relief for her.

This time, however, he had no idea what had set her off or how to distract her.

They were taking a small break from battle to focus on recruiting more planets into the Voltron Alliance, coasting in the stars from planet to planet on the outskirts of galaxies where the Galra had yet to take complete control. There was no need for battle – only an occasional air show with the Lions to prove who they were – nor were there any repairs needed, as she, Coran and Hunk had taken care of all that before they started recruiting in the first place. Furthermore, they were running low on spare parts and components for her to tinker around with, so the most she could really do was blueprints and rough drafts.

Keith knew she was going to need a distraction of some sort; so, with a hard swallow of his pride, he asked Lance for a favor.

Despite not being able to do much else, Pidge was still at her desk in the hanger, scratching away at some graphing paper as if her life depended on it. She shifted a bit when the doors opened but seemed unconcerned with someone coming in. “Hey,” He said quietly as he approached, one hand shoved in his jacket pocket and palming the device Lance had agreed to lend him.

She let out a small grunt of acknowledgement, setting her pencil down to grab an eraser. He watched as she erased a line that she had drawn connecting two pillar-like objects and brush away the little bits left behind. “Did you need something?” She asked, her tone a mix of curt and tired that he never thought possible. Whatever was plaguing her mind was really getting to her.

“Nothing I need but there is something I want,” He said calmly, pulling out the small device. He tapped the small center button, put in the unlock code and skimmed through the little iPod for the playlist he’d cobbled together over the last three days of research. While he and Lance had very different tastes in music, there had luckily been a few songs that Keith was fond of or knew well enough to get a one-hour playlist going.

Pidge slowly turned her chair to face him fully as he set the little device down on the corner her desk, the soft acoustic chords of _The Only Exception_ by Paramore starting up from the small speaker. “What are you-?” She was cut off by his taking a step back and offering her one of his hands.

“Dance with me,” He said, holding a breath after the words left his mouth. This was a complete gamble for him; after all, he had no idea if something like this would be to Pidge’s liking or if she might read what this really was. They’d had many conversations about various things but dancing and musical taste were not subjects they had ever touched on. On top of that, dancing was something he’d always considered to be intimate and, well, incredibly romantic. He only hoped that she wouldn’t read this as a confession – as he wasn’t ready or sure how to approach that topic – and laugh him right out of the hanger.

Indigo locked with bronze for a full minute before the weight of her hand settled in his. “I’m warning you now that I’m not very good. Most of my dancing background is being led on my dad’s feet in the kitchen and ballet classes when I was in grade school,” She warned him, her tone just a bit softer than before.

“I’m choosing to read the ballet lessons to mean you can at least match a beat,” He teased lightly as he guided her to the empty space between she and Hunk’s respective work spaces. It was a comfortable enough space that they could move with relative freedom without the risk of bumping or knocking anything over. She laughed slightly at his comment and settled to matching her steps with his, glancing down briefly at their feet.

The first few songs went by easily enough, all being softer and slower songs that are easier to sway to. For the most part, Pidge was still tense and uneasy, but a bit more fluid than she had been perched up on her chair. When they were greeted by the severe mood whiplash of _The Macarena_ pumping out the speaker, though, she let out a few let snorts, clearly struggling to keep back her laughter. He grinned a bit and stepped back to perfectly follow the dance instructs of the song, which only made her laugh even more. “Where did you learn that?” She chortled, reaching up with one hand to wipe at her eye lightly.

“My baby-sitter used to teach me goofy dances when I was really young because my Dad thought it was cute,” He said lightly. He swallowed down the painful sting the little bit of nostalgia left in him and beamed when Pidge started trying to imitate the steps. “It’s really easy if you just listen to the beat and the steps. Here, let me help you.”

He slid behind her and tried to help guide her, the two of them working like an odd, poorly coordinated puppet show, but they were laughing the whole time. The next song was another peppier, upbeat jam that Keith didn’t recognize, but Pidge seems to be as she started humming along. He twirled her around with a bit of a flourish and the two started up a terrible mockery of a tango. The next song was some song from _Grease_ that led to Pidge teaching him how to do the hand-jive dance from the film. That was followed up by a sandwich of _Pop_ by N’Sync in between two Backstreet Boys songs; _Larger than Life_ and _The Call,_ respectively, and they dissolve into less of actually dancing and more tripping over each other’s feet while doing intentionally terrible karaoke. Those three were followed by _Angry White Boy Polka_ by Weird Al Yankovich, which felt like the cherry on top.

Pidge’s mood seemed to dip slightly when _I Bet My Life_ by Imagine Dragons came on, which seemed odd to him. It was another song that was a bit more boisterous and energetic, with a pleasant enough sound to it. She started to pull back from him but he nudged her closer. “Something’s bothering you. Tell me what it is,”

She grimaced and let out a long, drawn out groan in response, her gaze darting to various other points in the hanger.

“Pidge,” He said more sternly, one hand moving to catch her chin and force her to look at him, “I’m not a mind reader. Tell me what’s bothering you.”

She stared at him for a moment before she moved closer to him. She shifted up to her tip-toes, resting her chin on his shoulder and tilting her head a bit, the ends of her hair teasing along his cheek. The hand that had been on his opposite shoulder had slid to wrap around his neck, her fingers fidgeting with the back collar of his shirt a bit, while the other had slithered to wrap around his side and rest that hand on the middle of his. “My mom,” She said softly, voice coming out small and strained, only audible due to the small delay as the iPod shuffled to the next song.

He leaned his own head against hers, his cheek pressing into her temple and a small sliver of her ear, and hummed softly. “You miss her,” He said quietly, slowly beginning to sway them to the gentle tempo of the song.

“I just… It would have been her and Dad’s wedding anniversary today. And he’s not there to be with her to celebrate. Hell, she’s all alone on Earth thinking that we’re all probably dead,” She choked out, her last statement coming out as a borderline hysterical laugh. She tilted her head and pressed her face into the crook of his neck, a faint blush tinting his cheeks. “I know I did the right thing in what I did… Know that it’s better I stay here as a Paladin so I can find Matt and Dad… But it still hurts to know how much she must be suffering.”

He hummed quietly and wrapped his arms more snuggly around her, shifting so that her feet are resting atop his as they swayed to and fro with the song. “Maybe we can talk to Allura about jumping to Earth sometime just so you guys can tell your families you’re alive,” He suggested. She hummed noncommittally in response. He gently stroked one hand along her back in slow, small circles that he hoped she took comfort in. “And, I know it’s probably not worth much, but I’m glad you’re here.” She sniffled quietly and pressed more into, her holds on him tightening ever so slightly, and he felt a small smile turn up his lips as they drifted to the slow beat of the song.

_I see nothing worse, than to sail this universe without you._


	16. Play Date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Years after disbanding from Team Voltron, they still like to get together to catch up and enjoy a meal together. Especially now that they have little ones to look after. Hance included.

When her family came in to meet the newest member of their clan, her brother had taken one glance at her son before he laughed and asked, “Are you sure you didn’t just _clone_ Keith?”

Pidge had looked at him with a grin that screamed murder, gently bouncing the blanketed bundle in her arms, and sneered back, “Cloning doesn’t typically involving tearing from your V to your A over eleven hours of labor, Ass Hat.” That had gotten a good round of laughter from her parents, Matt had looked mortified, and Keith had hidden a smirk of his own by gently taking their son to check his diaper.

She wasn’t exactly sure how likely it was for a child to look so much like one parent and barely resemble another – and she wasn’t exactly interested, admittedly, – but there was no denying that Kaden was Keith’s son. Not only had he inherited his father’s looks, but he had also gotten some of Keith’s little quirks. Kaden tended to be relatively quiet around most people but he would babble quite insistently for she, Keith, and Grandma Colleen – whom had wept in glee when her daughter told her that she was one of her grandson’s favorite people to talk at – whenever they were around. The only time he ever seemed to get particularly fussy or noisy about wanting anything was when he wanted to be cuddled (which was another shared aspect with his daddy, though she was nice enough to not call attention to the fact in front of their friends and family).

Many a time he had made loud, grousing noises at Pidge from his spot in his playpen until she plucked him out and let him snuggle up with her.

That wasn’t to say that he hadn’t inherited anything from his mother, though; he had inherited being a naturally quick learner from Pidge herself. Despite him being just shy of hitting the eleven month mark, Kaden was already progressing much faster than other infants his age. Though most of what he said was just cute baby gurgling, he had gotten good about saying “Dada”, “Mama”, “No”, and was trying to figure out how to say juice, coming out as “Uce”. He had become an avid crawler – starting to get pretty good at standing up so long as he didn’t try to actually walk - which had reminded them that they needed to finish baby-proofing the house.

One week after putting in all the child-locks, Kaden had crawled over to Keith and plopped one of the outlet covers on his foot, wearing a proud grin and babbling excitedly at his success.

This had forced them to buy what Keith referred to as The Baby Dome – a playpen – to keep him corralled and safe while he played. Pidge had done her research on what would be their best option when selecting a playpen, and found that buying the kind that locked together while being easily taken apart by an adult with the comprehensive skills to know they could do so would be their best investment. They could link the pieces together to create a spacious circle of safety for their son while having the ability to take the gated pieces apart and use them to just block off certain danger areas once he got a little bigger. It also worked out because it was decently sized and made corralling the tiny tots easier for pay dates.

“ _Two_ babies go in,” Keith said in an ominous voice as Hunk had set little Raya inside with Kaden, “ _one_ baby comes out. These are the rules of _Baby Dome_.”

“ _Commence the battle_!” Hunk declared dramatically, karate chopping at the air. The two babies settled beneath watched him curiously, both smiling.

“Hunk, I swear by _all_ that is holy, _no underground MMA fights_ using _our daughter_!” Lance called back with a scowl from the entryway to the kitchen, floral printed baby bag on one shoulder and his arms swamped with grocery bags.

“Aw, but Lance~!” Hunk started to playfully sing back.

“Don’t you ‘Aw, but Lance’ _me_! There is a _reason_ I don’t want her going to _daycare_!” He barked back as Pidge approached to take some of the bags, snickering to herself at his overly venomous tone.

“You’re _really_ that paranoid?” She teased.

“ _Considering_ the article I read last week? About _that_ actually being _a thing_? Bet your _bottom_ I’m concerned about it!” He huffed as they unloading everything on the counters.

From the kitchen, she could hear Keith and Hunk fussing about to get the kids comfortably settled in the front room while their parents prepared dinner, the familiar jingle of _Bubble Guppies_ piercing her ears. They tried to get together at least two weeks for dinner and catching up – especially since they now had kids – and took turns on who hosted. Despite not being a fan of doing the clean-up, Pidge preferred when they met up at she and Keith’s home, since it was more convenient for Kaden. “You’re kidding, right?” She asked while putting two of the grocery bags in the fridge.

“Oh, I _wish_ I was! I figured you would have heard about it on that breast feeding group you follow, though,” Her said, setting a bag of potatoes on the kitchen table before heading back to rummage through the cabinets for the potato peelers. Despite them both have a Kitchen Aid and the attachment for peeling fruits and vegetables, Lance insisted that it was better to peel the potatoes by hand. Something about the quality of the flavor or something.

“It’s actually a pretty crazy story; my cousin sent his kids there so we got to hear a lot about what all was going on. Lance was hounding them for all the details,” Hunk chimed as he and Keith cut through to the backyard.

“I need to know what kind of things to be on the lookout for, Hunk. That way I can be sure that Raya never gets involved in dangerous stuff like that,” The other huffed lightly, dragging the kitchen trash can over and setting it between Hunk chuckled and leaned over, pressing a small kiss to his forehead, before heading out to the back patio.

Pidge settled into the chair across from Lance and chuckled. “The steaks are done marinating but they’re still in the bags I put them in,” She said to Keith as he opened the door. She started opening the bag of potatoes and flashed Lance a curious glance. “So what was that all about? This underground MMA thing with toddlers?” She asked.

Lance blinked then nodded, grabbing a potato and starting to peel it as he started to tell the story.

——————————————————————————————————————————————

Kaden Kogane was upset.

He glanced briefly at the television at the sound of singing and movement of little kids with colorful fishy tails before looking over towards the kitchen through the bars of his little play area. Mama and Dada had left him in here with his toys and a little girl – he knew he’d heard her name before but didn’t really remember – and then gone to do something else. He wasn’t really sure what, but he recognized the bags that the little girl’s dadas had brought with them. He had heard Mama and Dada call the place the “Grocery Store”. He liked going there because if he was well-behaved, Dada would take him to ride on the big plane while Mama paid for the food.

But that led him back to remembering that he was upset.

Right now, he was upset because he wasn’t getting what he was owed. Kaden had a certain amount of time he liked getting cuddles in a day. He figured that it was probably about eleven-bajillion and one hours of a day that he got cuddles from his Dada and Mama. He had not reached that quota that day, though, and it seemed that they would be busy for too long doing whatever they were doing. If that was true, he might not even get his cuddle quota met for the day at all. And he simply couldn’t let that be the case.

He grabbed the sides of his play area and hoisted himself upright, the little girl making a curious cooing noise at him from around the blanket corner she’d started chewing on. He chose to ignore her in lieu of implementing his current plan. He walked his way along the play pen so that he could peer into the kitchen and see Mama, settled at the table and talking with another adult. Dada was heading outside carrying a few bags in his hands. He looked up at the play pen and stared for a minute. He remembered watching Dada pull them apart and put them back together like his building block toys. Mama and Dada always told him he was a good, smart boy so he was sure he could figure out how to take it apart too.

It took him longer than he would have liked, and he nearly gave up at one point, but after a lot of struggling, he had forced the two linked parts to separate, leaving it cracked open so he could get out. He grinned excitedly and started wobbling his way out, feeling confident. He wobbled and fell back on his diapered tush, blinking and looking back towards the kitchen. Mama was still there talking. He huffed quietly, determination rushing through him, and focused on his goal.

He hoisted himself upright again, glanced down at his little feet, and started trying to take a few steps.

Kaden made it to the entryway to the kitchen before Lance noticed him, gaping while waving one hand at Pidge and pointing with the other. She peered over her shoulder before gasping in delight. Her little boy was walking! “Kaden,” She cooed warmly, scrambling out of her seat to kneel down with her hands out to him.

He giggled and continued his path, wobbling a little bit as he went. “Mama,” He said excitedly as he got closer. He teetered back, nearly falling with Pidge leaning closer to try and grab him, but he instead stepped back and regained his balance. He then scrambled forward into her arms excitedly, squealing as Pidge scooped him up into her arms and stood back up.

“My sweet little man! You’re so amazing, baby!” She beamed, twirling him around and giving him eskimo kisses. Lance chuckled as he watched them before his eyes widened, realizing that if Kaden was out, then the gates of the play pen were wide open for Raya to get out. He threw down the peeler and potato he’d been working on to rush into the other room. Pidge shifted Kaden a little closer to her and glanced outside. “You want to show Daddy your new moves?” She mused.

He bounced in her arms excitedly and she grinned widely. She walked over and quietly slid the door open, peering out. Keith was at the other end of the patio, chatting amicably with Hunk as they flipped the steaks. She then gently set Kaden down just in front of the small step the sliding door rested on, pointing him in Keith’s direction. Kaden looked up at her, a wide three-toothed grin that warmed her heart, before looking back over at his Daddy’s turned back and starting on his way.

Pidge stayed close by, watching him as he took each wobbly step and making sure he didn’t fall. He was grinning and giggling excitedly, getting louder and louder with the closer he got. He was nearly at Keith when his dad finally heard him and turned around curiously, gaping widely as he looked between Kaden and Pidge, crouched and slowly creeping a few paces behind him carefully. He then laughed and knelt down like she had before. “Come here, little guy! You got this!” He said, voice soft but excited.

In response, their son squealed and picked up his speed, stumbling right into his Daddy’s waiting arms. Hunk cooed softly at the sight. “So cute!” He mused before turning his attention to the grill, taking over the cooking while Keith coddled his boy.

Pidge stood upright and walked over as Keith played with Kaden, bringing him in for a quick peck before tossing him lightly in the air. She leaned over to press a small kiss to Keith’s cheek before letting her head rest on his shoulder and her hand rub up along his back. Keith settled Kaden against his hip, their matching indigo eyes sparkling in delight, before he looked over at Pidge. “Taught him a new trick, I see?” He teased.

She chuckled and shook her head without lifting up from his shoulder. “Not at all. He waddled his way out to me all by himself and then I figured he’d want to show you, too,” She hummed.

He blinked and looked down at her, brow creasing. “But he was in the play pen. How did he…?” He trailed before looking down at their son in awe.

“He figured out how to open it himself. So we’re going to have to retire the play pen early and just start blocking off areas. And then hope he doesn’t figure out how to undo that in less than a month,” She glanced over at Kaden, still grinning and giggling like mad. She reached over and gently stroked his cheek, smiling when he reached up and set his little hand on top of hers.

“I guess this is the end of Baby Dome,” Keith said, feigning disappointment. She snorted and bopped his hips with hers lightly.

“At least it had a beautiful last go, with one of the competitor’s tearing the Dome down with his bare hands,” She teased.

“A fitting end to such a brutal and intense facility,” Keith chuckled, pressing a kiss to the top of Pidge’s head and then turning to press a kiss to Kaden’s forehead.


	17. Stocking Around with You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fill for KidgeFest2017 Day 1 Prompt: Wish Upon a Star. For Keith, it’s still a little strange but also extremely satisfying to have a place to go during the holidays. Little does he know, his girlfriend has been planning something just for his return.

He was still adjusting to having some place to be during the holiday season.

The Holts had taken a shine to Keith the moment Pidge introduced them, even before she made it clear that he was her boyfriend. He had already had a handful of run-ins with Matt from both his time in the Garrison and his time working actively with the Rebels to defeat Zarkon. Samuel Holt he recognized as a living legend amongst anyone who ever hoped to travel the stars; a man whom had been on more space missions and had a hand in almost every revolutionary development in space travel in the over thirty years he’d been involved with the Garrison. He idolized the man as someone whom had always aspired to be just as prolific in the field. He was intimidated by him as the punk boyfriend of the man’s only daughter. And while he knew Colleen Holt to be a sweet and devoted soul from Pidge’s reminiscence of her life before Kerberos, he wasn’t sure how far that kindness would extend to him.

He was an outsider being brought in. An outsider that had been in an intimate relationship with their daughter for well over a year before formally meeting the family. An outsider with a reputation for being volatile and impulsive and being the direct cause for several instances of heartbreak for his girlfriend. He had been uncomfortable with the idea of having his character and motivations and intentions picked apart by people he didn’t know and who didn’t know about him. He wouldn’t make excuses for his behavior or past mistakes – especially the decisions that had hurt Pidge – but the idea of having other voices berate him for those flaws made him uneasy.

He’d been hearing those things for years from both himself and the many foster families he’d been swapped around to. He didn’t want to keep hearing it.

Instead, however, the Holts had been warm and inviting and eager to give him a chance to impress or disappoint. Despite being a high ranking official with a laundry list of accomplishments to flaunt, Samuel Holt was a humble and affable man. He had shaken Keith’s hand and praised him for his accomplishments with both Voltron and the Blade, saying that he’d heard so many good things from both of his children. There had been no call-out of his mistakes or declarations of his unworthiness of Pidge or shot-gun chats; instead, he’d ended up having a rather enthralling conversation about the differences between piloting a Lion and piloting a fighter-class Garrison ship.

And Colleen Holt had been just as jovial and benevolent as her husband, with just as many accomplishments of her own to speak of. While she wasn’t a scientist like her husband or children, she was fluent in Italian, French, Spanish, Japanese and German. Before they had Matt, she had worked for a huge corporation – she explained that she was bound to secrecy since she’d left – and been the head of international relations. After Matt was born, she’d stepped down from the job to find something that would be more flexible with her schedule as a new mother. The university downtown had been eager to offer her a position as a professor and she’d been there ever since.

After that initial dinner, Keith felt like he belonged with them.

It was why he didn’t worry about knocking as he opened the front door, stomping the last bits of snow on his boots to the doormat outside. Bae Bae darted over, tail wagging so frantically that his whole rear end shook, tongue lolling out from his parted mouth as he released an excited whine. “Hey, bud,” He mused as he shuffled on to the tile and shut the front door, reaching out to lightly rub behind one perked ear.

“Keith!” Pidge called as she rounded the corner to join him in the entryway. She leaned up to kiss him as he tugged one of his gloves off, moving that hand to gently cup the side of her face. She hummed and pressed into his touch lightly. “How was the mission?” She mumbled against his lips, her hands coming up to start working at the zipper of his winter coat.

While Zarkon had been bested and peace seemed to come to the universe, there were rumblings in the underground of worlds that had willingly allied with the Galran ruler planning a rebellion in retaliation to Voltron’s victory. The Blade were following leads to get more concrete intel, but as of yet it was more like chasing shadows. “Hmm. Same old song and dance,” He said lightly, carefully shrugging out of his coat with Pidge’s help. She held it up so he could stuff the gloves into the large pockets before turning to head toward the coat closet. He watched her then chuckled slightly. “Wow. You weren’t kidding about being really in to the Christmas spirit, huh?” He laughed lightly.

She smirked at him over her shoulder as she opened the closet door. “I’ve never lied before, have I?” She mused. In honor of the oncoming festivities, Pidge was wearing a red skirt that had candy canes pressed to make heart shapes all over and seemed to be made wool to offer more warmth. She’d paired it with a pair of leggings that were covered in little gingerbread people decorated to look like Santa and Mrs. Claus. She had completed the outfit with a long sleeved shirt that had Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, in all his traditional Christmas glory, wearing shutter shades and the text “You bad, bro?” at the bottom.

“I’m afraid I’m gonna have to plead the fifth on that one,” He chuckled lightly as she returned to him, shutting the door with one sock clad foot.

She hummed in amusement, weaving her arms back around his neck and hanging off him like a sloth. “ _Oh_? And why is that?” She laughed.

“Don’t play coy, Miss Holt. We both know why,” He teased back, rewarding her with another quick peck before she stood upright and led him to the living room.

The whole house was already decked out for the festivities – tinsel and lights twisted around every support beam and strings of popcorn hanging over the entryways - and they had just started trimming the tree. Matt and Sam were quick to greet Keith and ask him about his mission as they got to work. Pidge helped explain to Keith how they typically decorated – plastic ornaments going on the bottom, due to Bae Bae’s powerful Tail Whip, while glass ones went up higher – as Matt and Samuel put more lights and tinsel on the tree. They had just finished decorating the tree when Colleen came bustling out of the kitchen, a notepad in her hand and her purse slung over her shoulder.

“Hello, Keith! So glad you could make it!” She beamed, the two sharing a brief hug and Keith getting a small peck on the cheek from her.

“Glad to be here, Colleen,” He said, his voice warm and soft with sincerity. He then tilted his head a bit at the notepad in her hand. “Compiling a Honey-Do list for Sam?”

Colleen giggled and waved her hand lightly. “Oh, heavens, no! Matthew helps with most of the particularly tasking chores around here, anyway. No, I was getting together a grocery list. We’re teetering on the edge of being Mother Hubbard in those cupboards,” She mused lightly.

“Ah, finished taking inventory of what little we already have?” Samuel laughed, briefly exchanging a look with his daughter.

“Indeed I did. I hope you don’t mind having pizza for dinner, but there really wasn’t much left in the house for me to make. Matt, call it in for us in about fifteen minutes or so, okay? Dad or I will let you know when we’re on our way home so you can all help bring everything inside,” Colleen delegated evenly while Samuel headed back toward the entryway to get their coats.

“Yes, Ma’am,” Matt said, bowing at Colleen with a dramatic twirl of one arm before dipping at his waist. Pidge rolled her eyes while Keith snickered at both siblings’ actions.

Colleen giggled a bit and hummed, glancing over at Keith and Pidge. “For now, though, why don’t you settle in and relax, Keith? I’m sure you’ve got a bit of jet-lag from all that space travel,” She suggested before heading along after Samuel.

Pidge smiled and nodded, taking Keith’s arm and tugging him towards the mantel. “Come on, we can start a fire and you can tell me what exactly happened on your mission,” She said, nudging him over toward the couch settled behind the tree. Keith watched over his shoulder as she and Matt exchanged thumbs up behind his back, causing him to let out an intrigued hum. “What?” She asked, turning her full attention back to him.

“Why do I get the feeling that you’re all conspiring to pull a fast one on me?” He asked with a small chuckle.

She hummed and tapped at her chin in playful thought. “Well, you always have been a bit on the paranoid side,” She mused, slipping past him and heading toward the fireplace. He noticed that there were already a couple of logs settled inside. She grabbed a small book of matches from the top of the mantel, struck t, and then tossed it inside. It took her a bit of coaxing and puffing to get the logs smoldering proper, but in the end she succeeded.

Keith settled back on the couch and sighed as he watched her, letting himself be sucked in to the soft, plush surface beneath him. It had been a while since he’d been able to lean against something this comfortable. The bunk in his cruiser wasn’t the most uncomfortable surface he’d ever laid upon, but it was certain pretty high up there. Pidge beamed, hands on her hips, before turning and trotting over to cuddle up into his side. He lifted one arm to help her hunker down more comfortably against him and then draped the arm along her back, the two sighing contentedly in unison.

Or, he realized, maybe it was more that he had simply gotten used to having the Green Paladin sharing his space with him.

“So your mission went well?” She asked softly, glancing up at him through her bangs.

He leaned down to press a soft kiss to her forehead. “Mm. Don’t really wanna get in to that, though,” He mumbled.

She laughed slightly. “Oh? Not in the mood to brag about your accomplishments to make your lady friend swoon?” She waggled her eyebrows at him in a gesture painfully reminiscent to a certain loud personality they knew.

A bark of laughter clipped out of him. “Not much to tell, really; we didn’t really gain any new information or lose any ground so it was ultimately very meh,”

“Wow, it really must have been a boring mission if you don’t even have any interesting Blade shenanigans to share from the whole thing. I mean, you’ve always come back with hilarious stories about the Blade rookies getting overzealous and messing up the most basic of tasks,” She tsked lightly.

“Promise not to tell Kollivan since I’d never hear the end of it but… It almost felt like a waste of my time, honestly; would have rather been here than out there for the last five weeks,” He said, gently twisting a long honey colored lock around his index finger. Pidge had been growing her hair out for years and he had to admit he was a fan. Any hair style looked good on her, but he liked getting to play with the longer tresses.

“Because you missed all of this?” She asked, her tone a bit softer and sincere now. He appreciated that she knew exactly what that meant and nodded.

“When I was a kid, all I ever wanted was a family and a home to belong to. I would dream about it and wish for it all the time. Hell, there were even nights where I would pretend I saw a shooting star in hopes that my wish would come true,” He said gently. Her grip on him tightened a bit, both in reassurance and a bit of sympathy. Even before the two of them became romantically involved, he and Pidge had gravitated towards one another; an invisible pull between two people made from almost all the same stuff. Like they were cut from clothes so similar they were almost the same, to phrase it a different way. They had been able to strip away their bravados and bare their most naked, tender, and guarded secrets and feelings and heartbreaks to one another, unabashed and unapologetic and unashamed of them. They never judged one another or made a competition out of it; simply listened and offered the safe place to unleash all the darkness inside. She knew all his sad songs of loneliness and isolation just as he knew hers. “And I found that with Team Voltron, in a weird traveling-space-and-fighting-alien-Hitler sort of way. But… The simple and domestic of it all… I have that _here_. With _you_ and your family. They’ve been so accepting of me and I just… I can’t express _how much_ I appreciate it and _love them all_ for it. And _love you_ for taking a chance on _me_.”

He could feel his eyes getting a bit misty and swallowed thickly to try and regain some sense of composure.

“You’re so ingrained in the family that we got you your own stocking,” Pidge said while scooting up a bit to press a quick peck to his chin.

“Oh yeah?” He asked, coming out in a soft puff as he regained control. He didn’t want to get all mushy when he hadn’t even been back on Earth for a full hour.

She hummed in assertion before shifting to gently pull away, indicating the mantel above the fireplace. “Go check it out for yourself,” She beamed, giving one of his hands a brief squeeze.

He quirked an eyebrow at her before standing up and heading over to do as she suggested. The stockings were all simply but there was a comfort in the plainness of them. They were all one solid color with the first letter of their owner’s first name embroidered on the front; well, excluding Bae Bae, whose stocking was about half the size and had bones printed on the fabric it was composed of. Colleen’s was white with a red “C”; Samuel’s red with a white “S”; Matt’s was also white but the “M” was green. He wondered briefly is Pidge’s own stocking had been replaced to better match with her role as Paladin, given the stocking was green with a white “K”. And hanging right next to hers was a red stocking with a white “K” on it, a stocking meant to represent him. He reached out and lightly stroked the wool along the hem, the couch creaking softly as Pidge got up and began to join him.

He couldn’t help the smile that lit up on his face then perked up when he noticed something. He tugged a bit to lift the stocking in the air and realized that it felt oddly weighted down for something that wasn’t supposed to be filled for another twenty days or so. He looked over at Pidge to find her grinning at him like the cat that swallowed the canary; a look he’d often seen but never had directed at him. “There’s like, some kind of prank tool in there, isn’t there?” He asked, his smile becoming a bit cheekier.

She responded but rocking back and forth on the heels and toes of her shoes, looking about innocently and making a small “Maybe” noise. She leaned a little bit closer and nudged his shoulder with hers. “I guess your only option is to look inside, huh?”

He rolled his eyes a little bit and plucked the stocking up, shoving one hand in to rummage out whatever she’d hidden inside. Most like a fake piece of dog poo or one of those terrifyingly realistic looking moth things she’d made. He had learned after the incident involving that abomination of an “invention” of hers to, 1) Never trust her with mundane personal fears, and, 2) Never try to play a prank on Pidge Gunderson on April Fool’s without expecting some kind of retaliation. His fingers barely brushed the item as he reached farther in to get a better grip and his brow knit a bit. The item was lined with some kind of velvety substance but it was square shaped as opposed to the oval of the faux moth. It also didn’t seem to have any wings, which ruled out that option.

He pulled it out and tilted his head at the little black box settled between his fingers.

“Thank you,” Pidge sang as she plucked it from his grasp. She cleared her throat before she dipped down, setting one knee on the ground and keeping the other bent to keep her upright. When she glanced back up at him, she was still grinning, but there was a spark of nervousness in her bright gaze. Keith’s stomach flipped and his eyes widened as the pieces began to connect. “Keith, we’ve been together for basically forever at this point…”

“We’ve been dating for two years, five months, two weeks, four days, and thirteen hours. If you meant how long we’ve _known_ each other, though, then the time equates to-!”

She snapped her fingers at him and put on a feigned pout. “ _You_ are _not_ allowed to pull a _me_ right now, _you ass_. Now shush your stupid pretty face and let me do this thing right,” She said evenly.

He made a show of pretending to zip his lips and flick away the key before letting her continue.

She nodded her approval before taking a small breath to regather her thoughts. “So, Keith, we’ve been together for _a very long_ time at this point. You’re my biggest supporter and the first person to call me out when I’m wrong and you’ve never judged me for how I look or how I act or tried to insist that I be someone I wasn’t… You’ve always pushed me to be true to myself and you’ve helped to teach me to see so many things in different and new ways… You’ve been a great ally and a great friend and the greatest lover I could have ever hoped to have and you’ve inspired me to want to be a better version of myself… I love you more than anyone else in this universe and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. So… You in?” Her voice never warbled as much as it did as she spoke and, while her hands did shake a bit as she lifted the top of the ring box, it didn’t take away from the moment. She had to blink a lot to keep from getting overwhelmed by her feelings and crying but her gaze never strayed from his.

For as nervous as she was at being that vulnerable in front of him, she wasn’t going to back down from it, regardless of the outcome. He couldn’t help but smile at her transparency and sincerity, his own affection filling his chest with a warmth he’d never really known before. “Sign me up, Katie,” He breathed out, holding his hand out to her.

She gasped quietly before smiling from ear to ear, a few tears spilling over in her joy. The ring was a simple golden band, but he noticed a small engraving along the interior. He made a note to ask her about it later. The minute the ring was settled on his finger, he scooped her up and into his arms, leaning down to kiss her eager and giddy. She squealed softly in delight, arms looping around his neck, and melted against him eagerly. “I was planning to propose to you on Valentine’s Day, just so you know,” He mumbled against her lips when they pulled back. There was no malice in his words, though, and the grin of pure adoration on his lips only solidified that he wasn’t particularly perturbed.

“You snooze, you lose, beautiful,” She purred back, slinging her favorite pet name at him, before pulling him in for another kiss. This one was a bit slower, more composed, but still had all the same enthusiasm at the previous one.

When they pulled away, he leaned his forehead against hers, a grin turning up his lips as a thought occurred to him. “So is this why your parents decided to make a grocery run at eight o’clock at night?” He asked teasingly.

Pidge flashed him a half-hearted glare. “I’d just like to mention that _you_ were supposed to be here _six hours ago_ ,”


	18. Cha Cha Real Smooth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fill for KidgeFest2017 Day 2 Prompt: Dancing in the Snow. After several weeks of tiring battle, Keith and Pidge are finally given the chance to take their honeymoon. Part 2 of 3; preceeded by Chapter 17 from this collection of works.

Alien dictators, Pidge had learned, really had no respect for other people’s plans when throwing their universe-destroying plans in to action.

The Kuqorodiw were a race of alien creatures that reminded her of a fusion between lizard and a insect; they were tall and gangly with reptilian body features, but they had large eyes similar to a housefly, wings that allowed them to hover up to fifty feet of the ground – similar to the jetpacks on their Paladin armor – and a hard exoskeleton of sort that worked as a built-in armor. They had willingly allied with Zarkon early on in to his conquest of most of the known universe and remained loyal even after his spectacular defeat at the hands of Voltron a little over a year before. They had screamed to the Heavens about avenging their fallen ally and ruler before seemingly disappearing in to the ether. For months, the Blade and Team Voltron had kept tabs on their movements, waiting to see what they had in store for them, but continued to be disappointed.

Naturally, the night before she and Keith were scheduled to head off on their honeymoon, the Kugorodiw had decided to set their revenge scheme in to motion.

She’d had a few very choice things to say about it – both privately and publically – and had saddled behind Green’s controls with murder singing in her veins. Keith had looked an odd mix of both impressed and terrified at the legion of threats his new wife had unfurled but headed off to assist the Blade with their takedown of the head warship regardless. This attack, however, was just the first of many to come in the following months, and they were constantly forced to push their honeymoon date back further and further with each new bout of battles.

Finally, after nearly four whole months of waiting, they were being given their time to head off.

“The most we can offer you two right now,” Shiro said, looking to Kollivan and Allura both for their agreement as he spoke, “is a week. Kollivan sent a small squad to knock out the Kugorodiw communication lines and keep the signal jammed for a decent amount of time. Matt and Hunk are gonna keep scrambling the signal and sending them through different, mundane lines whenever they manage to reconnect to extend the amount of time a little more, too.”

Her eyes lit up and she grinned. “Really?” She asked excitedly, practically bouncing on her feet.

“You will still both need to keep your communicators close at hand and be ready to return at a moment’s notice, however,” Kollivan chimed in, his voice level and calm. She noticed, however, a slightly softer tint to his eyes as he looked at Keith. Something like pride, if she had to wager a guess. “But we are going to do our best to give you the time you deserve to settle the bonds of your new matehood. We would just like you to also be prepared in case push comes to shove, and you’re needed back here with Voltron.”

“Of course. Thank you,” Keith said, quickly offering a bow to Kollivan.

The older Galran chuckled and reached out, giving his shoulder a small pat as he righted himself. “There is no need to thank us. You two have already done so much for the universe; it only makes sense we try and pay you back at least a little,” He said.

With that, the Kogane’s packed their bags and headed out in the Green Lion to their destination.

Touchdown on Olkarion was easy going and they were greeted by an enthusiastic crowd. As Pidge stepped out, Keith a few paces behind her with their bags, Ryner approached them with open arms. She ducked in to her arms and embraced her eagerly. “It’s a pleasure to see you again, Pidge,” She said happily, patting her head gently.

“The pleasure’s all ours. Thank you so much for having us,” She said gently, stepping back a bit as they parted from the embrace, Keith saddling up beside her.

“We were flattered when you said you wanted to spend your… ‘honeymoon’, I believe you called it?” She asked with a small tilt of her head.

“That’s right. And you’re sure you don’t mind us popping by?” Keith asked politely.

“We are absolutely thrilled to have you, I guarantee. Now, come, we’ve set up a hut for the duration of your visit. Once you’ve finished settling in, you can meet us in the square for the beginning of the Festival of Code Change,” Ryner said before inkling her head.

Two younger Olkarians approached and took the few bags from Keith as they walked along. The walk was brief to the quaint little hut they were being allowed to use, teetering just along the far edge of the village and skirting along the tree line that had once led to the Galran work camps. Now, it housed a beautiful memorial for all the fallen soldiers of the coalition. Ryner explained that they’d left a spare set of ceremonial robes for both of them in the closet and then excused herself and the younger two so they could finish with the last bit of preparations.

The hut was humbly furnished with a dresser, large circular bed, two bedside tables on either side, a closet, and a small desk. Another door on the opposite wall from bed led to the small bathroom, which had a sink, toilet and shower. It was a bit smaller than she’d been expected but neither she nor Keith needed an excessive amount of space and were more than comfortable with squeezing in together. She smiled as she set her computer bag on the desk and then trotted back over to the bed where Keith was opening their suitcase. “It’s really cozy, huh?” She mused as she reached in and grabbed a few items.

“It’s nice,” Keith mused lightly as he pulled out their small bag of toiletries and headed for the restroom. As he organized everything there, Pidge finished getting their clothes put in the dresser and hanging in the closet; making sure to remove the two outfits already hanging inside so that they could get changed. “So do you happen to know exactly what this festival is all about?”

“Can’t say I know much more than you, I’m afraid. I know Ryner mentioned that we’d be coming down in time to participate but she didn’t elaborate any further than that,” She said, carefully setting the two outfits out along the bed to avoid wrinkling them. She looked from them and then back up at Keith. “And you’re sure you’re okay with us spending our honeymoon out here?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Keith asked, brow raised, as he started to hoist his shirt over his head. She said nothing and watched him for a moment, more than pleased with the show. He looked at her with his arms crossed when she didn’t answer and cleared his throat to drag her attention back to their conversation.

She flashed him a cheeky grin at his expectant look before shrugging a bit. “Well, I just figured… I mean, this seems more like a trip for me and not so much you. I know tech isn’t exactly your thing and I don’t want you getting bored or anything,” She explained.

He chuckled. “There’s more to this place than just the technological side of it. There are all kinds of trails to hike and caves to explore… And, honestly, I’ve always just been very comforted by being in the great outdoors, so this place is nice for me, too. It’s kind of like a merge of two of our separate interests so we can still enjoy it together, you know?” He hummed, reaching out to pull her to him. She went along easily enough, letting her hands slowly creep up from his chest to rest on his shoulders.

“Well, you do have a point there… I’m just glad you won’t have to be completely bored if I get, like, distracted by anything in specific,” She said with a little laugh.

He smiled back and gave her a quick kiss to the forehead. “I appreciate that concern, though. Now, why don’t we get ourselves put together and see what this whole thing is all about, hm?” He suggested. She nodded and took a second to give him a quick, eager peck to the lips before pulling back completely.

The ceremonial robes were reminiscent of the usual attire of the Olkari, but made a much more flowing and luxurious fabric. The normal robes felt more like they were made of something akin to cotton, but these were a bit more breathable, and had a bit of a shine to them. The sleeves of these robes also dipped over both arms – and still included the additional under layer for added protection – and had also come with ponchos that reminded Pidge of the one that Ryner wore as a sign of her status among her people.

The Olkari had remembered their respective colors, as well, which Pidge had been flattered by.

The tops of their robes matched in style but their bottoms differed, with Pidge’s being a billowing gown that teased at her ankles, while Keith had gotten a pair of slightly looser slacks that cuffed off at his ankles as well. Her blouse and skirt with both a dark, emerald green hue, with silver outlining the edges of her skirt and long sleeves on her blouse. Keith’s shirt and slacks were the same in that regard as well. Furthermore, there was additional embroidery work in silver thread along the ankles of Keith’s slacks and Pidge’s skirt; both depicting the dragonfly-esque creatures they’d seen so many times before. There were also two lengths of ribbon included with their outfits – one green and one red respectively – with a note letting them know that it’d be easier for them to participate if they had their hair tied back. Keith helped Pidge braid hers while she helped him tie his off in ponytail.

Deciding they were as put together as possible, they slipped outside and walked to the square hand in hand.

The center of the village was filled with Olkari finishing up the last bit of preparations with Ryner standing off to the side and observing the final bits. She turned and smiled at them, also having changed in to robes very similar to theirs but in a soft, pastel pink hue. “Ah, I’m glad the robes fit the two of you so well,” She mused happily.

“Thank you for lending them to us. So, what are we getting to look forward to?” She asked curiously, looking around at the rest of the set-up. There were a few small, buzzing little drones that looked more akin to hummingbirds being held by several Olkari, whom were finishing the last bit of modifications needed for whatever they were planning to do with them. The others had set up various large instruments that resembled pianos and drums and xylophones.

“The Festival of Code Change is when we restart the passage of time on the planet. We dance and release the Guromas to take the necessary changes for the code up to the clouds where the necessary alterations will trickle down to echo through the planet,” Ryner explained with a bright smile.

“So you have to cause the season to change here?” Keith asked in surprise.

Ryner smiled wider and nodded. “Indeed. It’s been a very large part of our society ever since our technological advancements allowed for this kind of control and unification with our world,” She mused.

Keith smiled at her then glanced down at Pidge, who was soaking the information in with the bushy tailed excitement of a young puppy going on their very first walk. “Seriously? Does it transform the code into, like, liquid or something so that it can disperse across the planet easily and effective? And how does the code transfer from the Guromas to the clouds?” She asked, prattling on giddily.

Ryner inclined her head toward the sky. “Watch and I am sure you will see, my dear,” She said warmly just before the Olkari over by the instruments started up.

The drums went first, at a steady and even tempo like a beating heart. The Olkari working the Guromas held them up in the palms of their hands, tilted upwards so that their small and glowing blue eyes were pointed right at the sky above. After a few more beats, the xylophones and piano joined in. Their sounds were similar to the Earth instruments but had a more mechanical sound to it, as if the noises had been produced by a synthesizer of some kind.

They waited until a few other couples slipped out in to the empty circular space and watched their movements before taking to the dancefloor. Thankfully, the Olkari dance seemed to be nothing more than a basic waltz, a set of steps they’d been forced to learn in their time as Paladins along with other, more complicated moves to appease other cultures as well. Keith settled one hand on Pidge’s hip while the other two linked together. A small rumbling could be heard above, over the thrumming of the music around them. “I guess it’ll be some kind of rain that falls to spread the code around,” Pidge said, stealing a brief glance upward.

Keith laughed lightly as they twirled around, her feet barely managing to avoid stepping on his toes with how distracted she was. “Would it be easier if you just put your feet on top of mine and I led that way?” He offered.

“No, no! I can dance on my own!” She said quickly, turning her face to look at him again. He reached up with one hand to tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

“If you’re _su-uh, what_?” He said, trailing off and freezing at the sight of something over her shoulder. He then looked around more before turning his gaze upwards to the sky.

Small speckles of what he could only call snow were beginning to fall slowly around them. It wasn’t white like Earth snow – it flickered frantically between yellow and blue and pink instead, most likely due to being partly synthetic – but what had touched his skin felt like snow. “Oh, _wow_!” Pidge breathed excitedly, looking around as well. The music began to pick up in tempo and, as it did, more snowflakes began to fall.

Curious, Keith poked his tongue out to catch one on his tongue. His face crumpled and scrunched in immediate regret. “Oh, _God_ ,” He sputtered out, “ _that_ is not _anything_ like our snow!”

“Why did you do that?” Pidge laughed, unable to keep her amusement inside as she watched his drag his tongue along his front teeth in a poor attempt to scrape the linger taste off of his tongue.

“Normally snowflakes don’t have a taste to them! But that just tasted like licking a motherboard!” He snapped.

“Because licking motherboards is just something you enjoy doing in your free time?” She cackled back, slumping against him to remain steady.

He laughed a bit himself and pulled her closer, the two of them falling into an awkward and lopsided twirl. He saw a few Olkari watching them with barely concealed amusement and affection. He beamed and burrowed his face in her hair, keeping his hold on her as they continued to sway with the crowd as the storm continued its dull roil around them.


	19. Fighting the Clock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fill for KidgeFest2017 Day 3 Prompt: Midnight Kiss. It’s New Year’s Day, and Pidge is a little miffed with Keith being away on a mission with the Blade after already missing the other holidays leading up to this. Hance included. Part 3 of 3; preceeded by Chapters 17 and 18 from this collection of works.

She wasn’t normally very fond of big crowds but she had always wanted to attend the ball drop in New York City in person. It was just like her to let her curiosity outweigh her discomfort or unease, but she wasn’t alone. Hunk and Lance had also been excited at the idea and agreed to come along. She had spent most of the early morning and afternoon alone, bundled up and waiting on the top of a parking structure, while Hunk and Lance had gone to do some sight-seeing and hit up some four-star restaurant Hunk had been raving about in the weeks since they’d agreed to coming with her. She had received a brief message on her communicator from him shortly before she was supposed to meet back up with them.

Keith’s smile on the screen twitched with nervousness at the corners.

“You aren’t going to make it, are you?” She asked bluntly, raising one eyebrow and forcing a teasing grin on her lips. It was hard to manage due to her disappointment, but a small voice in the back of her mind nagged that she shouldn’t really be surprised at this point. He had been unable to come back in time for Christmas. Or her father’s birthday. Or Thanksgiving.

It was just like him to be unable to be punctual when she had something important to talk to him about.

“I’ll be there, I’m just… Gonna be a little late,” He said, wincing a bit, and his tone sang of a thousand apologies she’d probably be hearing later. Evidently, her frustration must have showed through. So much for her poker face. “Not because of the Blade or the mission, though. I was fine leaving headquarters, I just… The coalition checkpoint is backed up all the way to the Big Dipper and it’s slow going.” He turned his communicator to show her the long, long line of ships ahead of his cruiser.

For the first time, Pidge resented convincing Allura to take them back to Earth so that they’re home world could join the coalition. If she’d known that so many aliens would want to come visit the planet the newest Paladins originated from she wouldn’t have said a damn word. Or, rather, she would have made a camouflage device for Keith’s cruiser so he could just bypass the whole circus. She’d never been a big supporter of bureaucracy and all that restrictive caution tape, anyway. “Have they given you any kind of E.T.A.?” She asked as the communicator focused back on him.

“A few hours… Probably closer to, like, ten or eleven o’clock tonight, if the estimate on the space-highway sign in correct,”

“Oh, well then we’re _totally fucked_ , because those things are _never_ right,” She barked, rolling her eyes.

He frowned. “Maybe things will go faster. You okay? You seem a lot angrier than I was honestly expecting you to be,” He said, his tone a bit softer. He had learned over the years that inquiring what had Pidge’s feathers ruffled was a science; tread carefully, and if she only rustled up even more than drop it until she felt like opening up herself.

She cast him a bland look, not even wanting to dignify that comment with a verbal response. He winced again and she let her shoulders sag a bit, trying to remind herself that getting angry wouldn’t help any. “You know, last time I checked, _I_ was the one wearing the wedding band, _not_ Kollivan.” She let a slightly more teasing note creep in to her tone. She didn’t want to end her year with making Keith feel like shit, thus starting the year on a sour note.

His smile was small and thankful. “Being married to Kollivan would be _pure Hell_ , don’t even _joke_ about that,” He laughed. She giggled as well and then stood up, making sure to keep her grip on the communicator so it stayed primarily focused on her face. “I’ve missed you.”

Her smile became softer and her eyes warmer. “I’ve missed you too, you big sap. I’m meeting up with Hunk and Lance so I have to go. If you can, let me know when you’re past the check point, though, so I can meet up with you,” She said.

“Will do. I’ll see you soon, promise,” He said, flashing her a quick salute before the feed shut down. With a deep sigh, Pidge stuffed the communicator into her purse, adjusted her scarf and gloves, and then scrambled to the elevator of the parking garage.

She ended up hailing a cab to get to the restaurant the other two had gone to, since it was across the city from her position, much to her chagrin. The drive had given her the chance to clear her mind and wonder what she would do if Keith ended up not making it in time to see the ball drop with her – as, she surmised, she could let it slide if he missed dinner – and the idea of kicking his sorry tail on to the couch didn’t seem quite strict enough. Her pettier side insisted that she make him spend _at least_ two nights in his cruiser, since she knew that thing couldn’t maintain heat when shut down and tended to go in to an automatic shut down if left on free-flight mode for longer than three hours.

When she arrived, Hunk offered her a small plastic bag with a Styrofoam container inside as well as a water bottle. “I take it he got held up?” He asked, flashing her a sympathetic smile.

“He’s stuck in a long line waiting to pass through the coalition checkpoint,” She said, taking the two offered items, letting the bag hang from her wrist by the handles. She opened the water bottle and took a quick sip. “Thanks, by the way. How much do I owe you for it?” She asked while putting the water bottle in her purse and peering into the bag to verify that some plastic utensils were inside.

“Don’t even worry about it,” Hunk laughed with a dismissive wave of his hand.

“Yeah, we figured that Keith would get caught up in that mess,” Lance scoffed lightly, waving one gloved hand flippantly in indication of the sky above them. He indicated his head and started walking, Pidge and Hunk falling into step with him. “Last year we got caught in that whole headache bringing Allura and Coran down for Thanksgiving. Which is why they just come down here and stay from Halloween until the last week of January.”

“It can get pretty crazy, now that Earth has become a hotspot for alien travel,” Hunk agreed, shuddering a bit at the memory. They’d never divulged the full history of what they’d gone through trying to get back to Earth, but she was well aware that some less-than-diplomatic phrases had been exchanged between Allura and one of the Garrison staff stationed at the checkpoint.

Lance ended up leading them to Central Park, where they settled on a bench so Pidge could eat. She had nearly wept her gratitude as she opened the container and took a bite of the herbed chicken parmesan they’d picked out for her. It didn’t hold a candle to her mom’s homemade one, but it was a nice substitute that would leave her full throughout the rest of the days activities. As she ate, Hunk and Lance told her about some of what they’d done. They’d stopped in front of the Macy’s Department Store where the Thanksgiving Day Parade always stopped at and perused through. “It’s, like, twenty times bigger than any other one I’ve been to before! And it’s selection? Totally validated the size of that place,” Lance said.

They’d also gone to Broadway to see a musical right before lunch, which had Hunk thrilled to talk about. She remembered how Lance had enlisted her help to get the tickets the minute they went on sale, as there was a big bustle over the latest presentation of the renowned classic The Count of Monte Cristo. “I mean, I’ll always have a preference for the years old original Broadway casts recording,” Hunk said excitedly, showing her the bag full of merchandise he’d bought after the show, “but this was definitely an amazing performance! Especially the two they cast for Edmond and Mercédès! And their rendition of _I Will be There_ was so amazing! They really sold it!”

“And this is why I’m the literal best husband _in the world_ ~!” Lance sing-songed proudly. Pidge chuckled but did have to admit that it was a sweet gesture. Hunk was a surprisingly big buff on classic literature and had loved the novel that inspired the musical many years later. It had always been his dream to see the musical in person if it were ever brought back to Broadway. So when Lance found out that very musical was being brought back for the new generation of musical buffs? He had known it would get him tons of bragging points if he got them in to see it.

Even if that meant waking up one very disgruntled Pidge at nearly two in the morning to guarantee the purchase.

They walked around the park after that, enjoying the sights and atmosphere. There were still plenty of people present, but there seemed to be more space for a bit of privacy between she and her friends. She watched Lance head out toward the water, pointing excitedly at some ducks and geese swimming close to the shore, tugging Hunk along with him. She stretched, humming in delight at the light pop and rush of relief, and stared up at the sky. She huffed quietly as she turned her attention back to Hunk and Lance, whom were now being chased by a disgruntled goose. For as much as she loved spending time with Hunk and Lance, she couldn’t help but wish that Keith was there with her.

……………………………………………………………………………………………

Keith groaned and drummed his fingers along the armrest of his seat. He’d been sitting here for a whole hour and probably only managed to slip _half an inch_ closer to the checkpoint. He looked at the watch he wore that was set to Earth time and scowled. He would still have another two hours of flight before reaching Earth even after the checkpoint. He groaned again and scrubbed his hands over his face, staring up at the slim gold band on his finger, then let his eyes close. It was a simply band but it was the engraving inside – Sword and Shield; the perfect pair – that always had him falling for her all over again.

_You aren’t going to make it, are you?_

Pidge’s disappointment had been painful, but what had been worse was how _resigned_ she seemed to the notion. She had been expecting him to call and cancel his arrival just like he had for Christmas the week before. And Samuel’s birthday before that. And even Thanksgiving before that. The realization that he hadn’t seen his wife in person since the second week of November was a sobering one; he knew that he’d been gone for a long time, but putting it all in to perspective like that was like a punch to the gut.

 _You know, last time I checked,_ I _was the one wearing the wedding band,_ not _Kollivan._

She had meant it as a joke and clearly wasn’t trying to be underhanded or passive aggressive – mostly because Pidge didn’t _do_ passive aggressive; she did _regular_ aggressive – but it still hurt. This wasn’t the first time he’d been taken away for extended periods of time due to missions. In the last two years of their marriage, he’d spent a total of eleven months away from her – including his most recent stint – and it left him suddenly reeling as he realized that he’d spend _nearly half their marriage away from his wife_. They had been talking about starting a family before he got the call for this most recent mission but he got the feeling that talk would be non-existent for at least a month once he finally did touch back down on Earth.

He opened his eyes to stare at the wedding band again. What would happen if Pidge did get pregnant and he got another mission and something happened? While medical technology was advanced – and Allura was always just a call away – there were always risks that could come with a pregnancy. Or, his mind goaded, what would he do if Pidge went in to labor while he was away and he couldn’t be reached in time to make it back? What if he wasn’t there to support her through delivery and see the birth of their first child? _‘Well,’_ A voice in the back of his mind scoffed, _‘you’re certainly getting yourself a_ splendid _track record of being dependable and supportive. Assuming she doesn’t just dump your sorry ass for a better guy after all the shit you’ve pulled recently, you’d better be intending to make it up to her.’_

That thought was all that was needed to steel his resolve. He sat upright and reached out, taking a grip of the throttles. In one quick motion, he sent his cruiser upwards, hovering just above his spot in the line-up as well as the tops of the other space crafts around him. He then twisted to the left, shoved his foot down and sent his ship spiraling around and past the lines. He knew that the patrol vehicles used by the Garrison in charge of the checkpoint didn’t get quite a much speed as the fighter pilot models – the ones that were similar to his own Blade provided cruiser – so as long as he got a decent head start on them, he could land his cruiser on the lot roof Pidge had gotten sealed off just for him – another perk of being a Paladin, she had said – and be well on his way into the crowd before they knew what hit them. He wouldn’t be able to change clothes like he wanted to, but he should be able to take the duffel bag he had shoved them in to with him.

Finding a bathroom to change in wouldn’t be hard, given their locations, and then it was just a matter of locating Pidge on the ground.

……………………………………………………………………………………………

He stole a glance at his communicator as he leaned against the wall of the handicap stall of a restaurant two blocks from the parking garage. 11:21. “Okay,” He breathed, a bit winded and winding down from the adrenaline rush that the chase had been, “all I have to do is call Pidge and find out where exactly she is. That shouldn’t be too hard.” He ran his fingers through his hair again before dropping his duffel bag and rummaging through. He changed in to his casual clothes as quickly as he could, then followed it up with a quick combing of his hair and brushing his teeth. He used a water bottle he’d had inside to rinse and spat in to the toilet, instead of the sink to avoid getting weird looks.

Well, more than he already got from when he first walked in wearing his Marmora suit and asking where the bathroom was.

He pulled on his gloves and grabbed his scarf from the bag, holding off on putting it on until he got outside and instead just tossing it over his shoulder. He rested the strap of the duffel bag on his other shoulder then headed out of the restroom. He took another quick glance at his communicator as he stepped out on to the street. 11:35. He started up to the link with Pidge’s communicator and watched the fuzzing noise line as it chimed to reach her before tying on his scarf and starting at a jogging pace towards the ball drop.

He ducked through the crowd and weaved between the other people, making his way to try and get as close to the ball as possible, while looking around and then back down at his communicator. Pidge would be as close as she could get – he was certain of that much – but then it became a concern of if she’d actually hear the communicator going off. He hoped that he’d be able to spot her in the crowd, but it was a bit difficult already. Between the light snowfall and everyone being bundled up in dark, heavy winter coats, it was near impossible to tell this huddled blur from that one.

He growled, terminated the attempt to reach her, and launched another as he checked the time again. 11:43. He looked around again before cupping one hand over his mouth. “Pidge!” He called out loudly. A few people turned to look at him with confused or annoyed expressions but none of them were the face he was looking for. He growled and tried calling for her louder, continuing to push through the throng. “Pidge! Pidge, are you around here? Can you hear me? _Katie_!” He shouted, getting louder and more frantic as he struggled against the current of other people.

He kept struggling and shouting, even as the crowd erupted into chanting out the count of the last minute before the ball dropped.

It was then that his eyes caught sight of a back. The person was wearing a black coat with a faux fun lining the hood and a bright blue scarf. What caught Keith’s eye was the fact that they were far too tall, towering twice as tall as those around him. He realized quickly that they were sitting on the shoulders of someone else, the two almost blurring together by the similar coloring of their coats. It was the scarf, however, that specifically caught him; he recognized the color and initials embroidered on the end.

L.M. Lance McClain.

He charged forward and felt his chest warm when he saw a slightly smaller figure standing just a few paces ahead and to the right of Lance, wearing a green and white stripped sweater and _his_ red beanie with the white puff ball on the top. He shoved past Hunk and Lance, ignored the exclamation of protest he got, and reached to grab her arm as they reached the final few seconds.

_10!_

She whipped around, lips twisted up in a snarl, ready to spit venom. She was on edge already with so many people constantly bumping and crowding her, but when combined with the fact Keith hadn’t made it? She was starting her New Year on a note of irritation just as she’d been dreading. She gasped when her eyes landed on an all too familiar.

_9!_

“Keith! You made it!” She gasped, her irritation melting away. He looked distressed and his shoulders sagged a bit.

_8!_

“I’m so sorry I cut it so close. I was trying to get here faster but the Garrison was chasing me and I had to shake them and I didn’t think that running around in my Blade uniform would be a good idea in this weather and-!” He kept prattling on, his words laced in anxiety. She could tell he’d been rushing to find her, frantic to make it back and keep his promise.

_7!_

She decided to take pity on the poor guy and lightly pressed one gloved hand over his lips to cut off his rambling. Pidge could be petty and spiteful, but even she knew when it was time to bury the hatchet; especially when she could tell he felt sincerely bad.

_6!_

She let her hands slide to rest on either of his shoulders and grinned up at him. “Hey, you made it before the end of the year, right?” She teased.

_5!_

He blinked a bit before reaching over to cup both sides of her face, still seeming a little distressed. “I _should_ have been here a few weeks ago,”

_4!_

“Yeah, but I’m willing to let us start the year off with clean slates. Sound like a plan?”

_3!_

His lips twitched up in a smile and he leaned forward, resting his forehead against hers. “Well, at least let me make it up to you. For the sake of my own conscience,”

_2!_

“And what did you have in mind?” She mused, raising one brow at him inquisitively. His smile turned a bit more devious before he tilted his head and pressed his lips gently against hers.

_1! Happy New Year!_

She pressed her lips more firmly to his and let out an eager little purr. He took charge and surged forward, lightly tracing her lip with the tip of his tongue and letting one hand slide up higher, tangling in her hat-frazzled hair. She was more than happy to voice her contentment with a slightly louder moan. He left one hand in her hair but let the other slide down to wrap around her waist and pull her closer, his body sturdy and warm through their respective layers.

 _God_ , she’d missed him.

She’d missed being able to lean into him and press close, to share his warmth. She’d missed tucking under his arm or into his side and just resting there. She’d missed waking up with his face pressed into the crook of his neck and his arm around her waist, her back flush against his chest. She’d missed being jolted out of her work by a puff of air against her cheek followed by the soft touch of lips to the hinge of her jaw. She’d missed the two of them dancing around the kitchen together to make dinner or tidy up. She’d missed feeling like her partner-in-crime was just a brief hand gesture away.

She’d just missed _him_ in general.

When they pulled away she smiled up at him, their foreheads touching again. It seemed that the world had faded back into focus and the ruckus around them sparked back to life. People were bustling around more aggressively than before and Pidge stepped even closer, curling up against his side to avoid getting moved around too much. “Glad we came _this_ year. No way would we be able to do this _next_ year with a little one,” She laughed.

He chuckled a bit and hummed. “Yea- Wait, _what_? Pidge, are you pregnant?” He asked, at first jovial and then freezing and staring down at her in surprise.

Her grin widened. “I’ve been waiting to tell you in person since I found out. I intended to tell you at Thanksgiving, and then when you came back for Dad’s birthday, and then I figured I’d just tell you at Christmas but that never panned out. And, I mean, I really _should_ have just told you since I know that would have gotten you home, but that just _didn’t feel right_. Telling you in person was the _only_ way I wanted to tell you,” She explained, nodding her head from side to side as she mentioned each time she’d planned to, and then nodding at her conclusion.

She watched his reaction carefully, his expression seeming to be frozen in shock, before his eyes sparked bright and his lips split in to one of his rare full smiles. He scooped her up with both arms and spun them around in a circle, laughing like a mad man while she squealed, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck. When he skidded to a stop he looked up at her with such wonder and glee it left her a bit winded. “ _We’re gonna have a baby_!” He breathed.

She flushed a little bit and giggled. “I’m about thirteen weeks in now. Due date is looking like mid-June right now, and we can find out the sex in February,” She mused, leaning down to press a small kiss to the corner of his mouth.

“Ah, so the lone wolf finally comes trekking back to the rest of the flock, I see?” Lance huffed as he and Hunk strode up.

“Um, Lance, I don’t think that you’ve got that quite right,” Hunk said meekly, squeezing the other’s hand with a small chuckle.

“Hunky, my love, I’m _trying_ to make a point,” He said, looking up at him with a raised brow before turning his attention back to Keith and Pidge. Keith set Pidge down but still kept her pressed into his side with an arm around her waist, which she appreciated. Even with her heavy clothes, she was still a bit nippy. “Oh, and thanks for nearly send us toppling over. Couldn’t even say an ‘excuse me’?” He huffed, though there was a bit of a playful hint at the edges of his tone. While the rivalry still existed between them, they – _Lance_ – had gotten better about letting the rivalry be more teasing than volatile.

“ _I’m gonna be a dad_!” Keith blurted out excited, still grinning like mad. He then swooped in and gave Pidge a kiss to the forehead.

Lance opened his mouth – most likely to make some kind of teasing remark – but Hunk beat him to the punch. “Congratulations, you guys. You’re gonna be great parents,” He laughed happily.

Pidge wrapped her arms around Keith’s chest and nuzzled in while Keith, Lance and Hunk fell in to casual chatter. She wasn’t showing too much yet, but there was a little bit of a baby bump starting to become more prominent. She leaned up and kissed Keith’s chin when she felt his hand stroke against her side through her coat. She waged he had probably noticed the slight bulge now that she was pressed so close up to him.

She basked in the light glow that the year was starting on; well, until she had to get in to a screaming match with the Garrison over them trying to detain Keith after foregoing the checkpoint.


	20. Night of Your Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Request Fill for Keith being a hopeless romantic. After swapping funny stories, Keith comes up with an idea of a way to woo Pidge and ask her a very serious question. Though he will need a bit of help from some unexpected - or unwanted - sources.

They were on the couch in the lounge, exchanging hilarious moments of embarrassment from their school days, when the subject came up. Keith was resting with his back against the arm closest to him, and his whole body resting sideways on the couch, his legs bent at the knee, with Pidge resting between them and leaning back into him. They had a large, plush throw blanket tugged over them due to the internal air of the ship being cranked up to a higher temperature than usual. The galaxy they were traveling trough’s atmosphere was of a greater temperature than that of Earth or Altea, so the Castle had automatically bumped up the air conditioning to assure the comfort of its denizens; however, after several thousand years without frequent maintenance, the air pumping out was just a tad too cold. Coran was working to fix it for them but they had found ways to cope with the cold until then. Lance was settled down at the other end of the couch with Hunk next to him, both of them still nursing their mugs of pseudo-cocoa that Hunk had prepared for them all. Keith and Pidge had chugged theirs relatively quickly and left their mugs on the table until they were ready to get up from their comfy cocoon.

Lance had just finished regaling them all with his terrible prom night that ended with him being pretty drunk – the fool had actually partaken of the punch – and trying to hit on his 73 year old Chemistry teacher. “See, you’re just making me _glad_ I ditched out on my prom,” Keith laughed lightly.

“ _Wish_ I ditched mine,” Pidge laughed, tilting her head back to look at him.

“And what, pray tell, made it bad enough to warrant ditching?” Hunk asked in amusement.

She turned back to face the others and shrugged a bit. “Okay, well, first thing was that I didn’t really have the greatest escort. I went with this kid named Max, who was really nice but also kinda awkward and was, like, fixated on talking about his various health concerns. That wouldn’t have bothered me really, if it felt like he was just saying it as a sort of warning as to what he could or couldn’t do for food before or something but… Any time I tried to change the subject he just brought it back to that. Like, I get it, dude, you’ve got some gnarly athlete’s foot. Don’t know how you do that when you’re on the chess team but whatever. And then, originally they were planning to hold it at this really nice hotel with this kinda cute red carpet slash grand gala theme, but the Student Council accidentally miscalculated how much it would be and didn’t have enough. So then instead they had to hold it at this little bed and breakfast in the next town over with minimal decoration. Oh, and then they also didn’t have enough money for a DJ, so then they had our History teachers Polka band performing live. And let me just say that it’s hard to do a slow-dance or even just… Non-Polka dance moves to Polka music,” She ticked off her fingers as she spoke, laughing and shaking her head a bit.

Lance let out a low whistle. “ _Man_ , Pidge, that sounds like a _real blast_ ,”

“It was kinda lame and I just felt like it was a waste. I mean, my parents spent good money on the ticket for me and bought me a nice dress and in the end I just really felt like I would have a better time if I’d stayed home. If I stayed home, I could have watched poorly-made monster movies with Matt or something,” She said, reaching up and tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

The doors opened suddenly and Coran poked his head in, a meek grin on his features. “Ah, Paladins, wonderful timing! Would it be alright if I borrowed Hunk and Pidge? I may need a little… Assistance with these repairs on the cooling system,” He asked.

Pidge chuckled and gently pulled herself up using Keith’s knees, giving one a little pat before pushing herself completely upright and taking the blanket with her. Keith held up both hands and looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “You retain heat better than I do. See you later, cuddle bunny,” She said teasingly, sticking her tongue out at him before flouncing off. Or, rather, scuffling off awkwardly since she had turned herself into a multicolored fleece burrito.

Hunk laughed and shrugged lightly at Keith. “You know she’s got those sticky fingers, dude,”

Keith watched them walk off then leaned back against the couch, tilting his head to look to the ceiling as his mind started to race through different thoughts. He and Pidge had been dancing around each other for some time now – it had been a little over a year on his part – and while he wasn’t always the best at reading people, even he wasn’t completely blind. Lingering touches, the way that she would watch his every move, and how she was always the first to jump to his aid during battle spoke to him of something more than just a teammate looking out for him. He was pretty sure that he wasn’t just imaging or reading too much in to it. He wanted to ask her if he was right and, assuming they both felt the same, that she be his girlfriend. He didn’t want to just ask her all flat and outright, though; he wanted it to be something _special_.

Her story had given him a few ideas, but he was going to need some help.

“Hey, Lance,” He cautioned, dropping his head to look at the other, “how good are you at keeping a secret?”

The other side-eyed him wearily. “That depends… What _kind_ of secret are we talking about here? Are you planning to _prank someone_? Get revenge for a prank done to _you_? What are the _specifics_ of the situation that would _require_ secrecy?” He asked, sticking his head up to look around frantically over the top of the couch before leaning a bit closer and lowering his voice. His lips twitched up in a conspiratorial grin. “Because, if you’re looking to pull a fast one on our favorite little Green Bean, I have a few ideas.”

He blinked twice before shaking his head. “No, it’s not a prank, but… It does… _Kinda_ … Involve Pidge? Like, kinda _indirectly_ … Well, no, she’ll be _directly involved_ once I get everything _planned_ and _executed_ but… Well… _Yeah_?” He questioned, growing a bit meeker as he tried to figure out how to explain it without giving too much detail. Lance’s eyes were blazing with intrigue and he could see the pieces falling together in his head, his grin turning scheming in a very different way; a way that screamed mischief at Keith’s expense.

“Why, Keith, if I didn’t know any better… I _might_ think you were planning something _to woo_ our dear feathered friend,” Lance crooned, looking the part of the cat that swallowed the canary.

“Wha… Pidge doesn’t _have_ feathers, Lance,” He deadpanned, knowing full well why Lance had said it but having no intention of humoring it.

The other smacked his forehead with his hand and groaned. “No, buddy, it’s supposed to be a _joke_ … Like, cause, _Pidge_ sounds like _pigeon_? And pigeons _do_ have feathers? It’s… I’m trying to do word play here!” He said, dropping his hand to glare slightly at Keith. The other continued to stare at him blankly, either not understanding or choosing not to acknowledge his explanation as far as Lance knew. “You didn’t try to say that you _aren’t_ trying to woo her, though.”

“Of course I didn’t deny that. It’s exactly what I want to do,”

Lance’s eyes practically bugged out at the omission. His expression reminded Keith of the one he’d worn when Pidge revealed that she was actually a girl to the rest of the team. Lance seemed to rebound quickly, though, as he started frantically blinking; well, that or his brain was completely short-circuiting. “Wait, hold up, give me a second,” He said quickly, shaking his head and holding one hand up. He watched as Lance took a few breaths to calm himself, glancing up at Keith with a furrowed brow a few times before resuming his breathing exercise. “So… Just to make sure I’m understanding this correctly… You _want_ to do something to _woo Pidge_? And by _woo_ , I mean… _Romantically impress her_ to cause _her_ to look at _you_ in a _romantic way_. Make sense?” He asked, his tone slow and patient.

Keith swallowed down the urge to make some quick retort – he didn’t appreciate being talked down to – and instead nodded. “I want to ask her to be my girlfriend,”

The other boy took one last deep breath before reaching over and throwing an arm over Keith’s shoulder, pulling him close and clapping him on the chest. “Okay, buddy, pal, friendo, let’s get this figured out! Considering you’re you, I’m certain you’re completely useless at this kind of stuff, so I’ll come up with a few ideas and then you can tell me what you th-!”

“I already have an idea,” Keith cut off flatly. He could only take Lance’s well-meaning insults and condescension for so long. “I just need some help figuring out the specifics.”

This caught the other off guard. “You…What did you have in mind?” He quizzed.

“I just thought of it a second ago so it’s still really under-planned, but I was thinking a recreation of prom. Like, we could have something similar to prom but it would be more in line with what would be considered a good prom, to make up for the terrible one she actually attended,” He explained. He quirked an eyebrow when Lance leaned more heavily on him, gawking at Keith as if there was something wrong with him. “… I mean… Unless you think it’s a bad idea?”

“How did you come up with an idea like that when I didn’t? I mean, that’s actually… _Really romantic_ ,” He said in shock. He looked like his entire world view had been completely shaken. “ _I’m_ supposed to be the romantic, suave, lover boy on this ship! You’re the grubby, aggressive angst-Lord! You can’t pull revelations like this out of the blue on me! It’s absolutely unfair!” He sputtered frantically.

Keith carefully ducked out from under Lance’s arm and made a bee line towards the door. “Forget it. I’ll go ask someone else for help,” He grumbled.

“Wait, dude, come back! I’m just playing around!” He protested, grabbing Keith’s arm before he could walk out. When the other turned to stare at him with indigo eyes shining with a mix of frustration and nervousness, he released his arm and gave him a reassuring smile. “If I don’t give you a hard time it’s just not us, you know? Honestly, it’s a really good idea and I think it could go really well if we put in the time to figure it out. I have no doubt in my mind she’ll be completely swept off her feet.” He encouraged.

He stared at him for a moment longer before a small smile turned up on his lips. “You really think so?”

“If there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s matters of the heart,” He said, patting his own chest in emphasis, “and it’s obvious that Pidge has been interested in you for a while now. She gets all mopey every time you head out with the Blade and always heads for the hanger the minute we know when you’ll be back. I think she’s been wanting to talk to you about it, but is either too shy or unsure of when would be the best time to bring it up. It’s not like you two have had a lot of chances to be alone recently, after all.”

The other male felt a faint blush creep to his cheeks at the idea of his feelings being reciprocated. He wasn’t really used to being wanted or cared for like he was with Pidge. He’d noticed some of what Lance had mentioned, but he was always afraid of reading too far into something that wasn’t there. After all, he and Pidge were best friends, so he had considered that being why she was upset to see him go. And she spent so much time working on this or that, the hanger may as well have been her bedroom. “I was always worried I was making assumptions,” He admitted.

Lance snorts and heads back over to the couch, grabbing his tablet off the table and starting it up. “Well, I can guarantee that you weren’t. Now, sit down and let’s get this figured out. I know you just thought this idea up, but were there any ideas you had right away?” He asked, pulling out the stylus and starting to scribble something down on the note-taker application.

He walked back around the couch and sat down, leaning back in to the cushions and humming in thought. “Well, she mentioned liking the theme her school picked out, so I figured that would still be good to use,” He mused.

“So a grand gala theme? That’ll be really intricate, but if you don’t mind me enlisting the other to help, I think we can pull it off,” Lance said, tapping his chin with the end of the stylus.

“As long as it doesn’t get back to Pidge, then they can help. It’d be a lot easier than just the two of us trying to do this ourselves,” He agreed.

The other hummed and started scribbling the information down. “Okay, so we’ve got the theme… For venue, we could probably use -!” Lance was cut off by the emergency alarms going off, sending the room into a flashing array of red. Both he and Keith only flinched and looked up, having grown accustom to the sound after all this time.

“Paladins, to the main deck immediately! We have a dire situation!” Allura called over the intercom. Lance groaned and got up, clicking his tablet off and returning it to the table.

“Okay, we’ve got at least the main idea figured out… We can talk about the rest later, okay?” He asked, flashing him a thumbs up as he darted towards the door backwards.

Keith nodded, fighting down the mild disappointment in his stomach. Hopefully the dire situation wouldn’t be too time-consuming. He wanted to get this all sorted out and start preparing as soon as possible.

……………………………………………………………………………………………

As it turned out, the universe – Zarkon – had other plans for them.

In the weeks to follow his first conversation with Lance, things had been steadily busy and hectic for them all. The Galra had bumped up their aggression with the planets they controlled and Team Voltron was working in overdrive to liberate the planets and save as many innocents as they could. Meanwhile, he’d been called back to the Blade by Kolivan. They received some information that had led them to a Galran spy working within the Coalition, selling out secrets of what their plans were to Galran commanders stationed on the worlds they were visiting. The work was rewarding – the idea of anything happening to Team Voltron because of the filthy weasel had left Keith ready to do more than rough the guy up – but that also left him little time to see the others.

He and Lance had exchanged some messages to finish figuring out some of the details, but they still hadn’t selected a date to put everything in motion.

He was just getting off the ship, the small drive of information clutched safely in her hand, when something wrapped around his shoulders and spun him around. He would have been concerned if he hadn’t seen the familiar tuft of cream-tinted fur at the other end. “Why can’t you ever just say hello like a normal person would, Nihaar?” He asked with a tired sigh.

The female in question laughed and she leaning into his personal space, poking him to the nose with one of pink-padded fingers. “Now where would be the fun in that?” She mused, orange eyes twinkling in mischief. Nihaar was one of the few members of the Blade that seemed to be around Keith’s age group, as well as one of the only females he’d encountered in his time. He knew that she was the part-Galra daughter of one of the senior Blade members; the other part of her lineage belong to a race called Chuewlt. From what he could tell from her explanation and her mixed appearance her mother’s people had been akin to giant, bi-pedal felines, but specifically bigger feral cats. Her lavender fur was off-set nicely by bronze colored spots on her, calling more to mind a leopard than a house cat.

He and she had been at odds initially – she had been jealous of how much time Kolivan spent giving Keith extra help in adjusting to the Blade customs – but soon enough hit it off due to both being outcasts. Despite being in Blade custody since she was a small kit, a lot of the other Blade members found her playful and outgoing behavior exhausting and troublesome. She admitted that she sometimes thought the others would be happy if she was killed in the crossfire of a mission, or taken out in the same attack that ended her mother’s life. Keith, still trying to gather his bearings and tending to deviate from the Blade rules of abandoning teammates, had resonated with that feeling immensely and started seeking her out more often. They sparred together and swapped stories about their respective cultures – Nihaar knew more about Galran customs and helped teach him that, while he shared some of the more entertaining Earthling customers he thought she’d like – and became friends.

She certainly helped to stave off the loneliness that sometimes hit him, so far away from the Castle of Lions.

“Was there something you needed?” He asked calmly as he turned and resumed walking towards the main conference room. Kolivan was most likely waiting for him to deliver the information they’d gathered, like he always did.

She hummed and fell in step beside him, lithe tail flicking back and forth with quick snapping motions. He’d learned to read her tail to know what she was playing at; those motions meant she was keeping something from him and was amused by it. “Not so much me… But more the big boss himself,” She sang.

He tried to keep the grimace from his face. “Kolivan _already_ has another mission for me? I haven’t even been back for a full five minutes,” He asked incredulously.

Nihaar’s grinned widely at him, a knowing glint to her bright eyes. “Oh, I think you’ll be interested in this mission. It’s something a bit more… Relaxing,” She said before darting up ahead of him.

He frowned a bit at the vagueness he’d been given to work with but simply hurried his pace. Maybe he could manage to get enough time to message Lance again about trying to pick a date for his plan.

When he arrived in the main conference room, Kolivan and Nihaar were speaking in hushed tones, both turning to him once he entered; one beaming and smug, the other unreadable and passive. “Ah, Keith, how was your mission?” Kolivan asked, holding one hand out to him expectantly.

“It went as well as to be expected… I returned in one piece, which should speak volumes,” He said, keeping his tone as even as possible. Nihaar shifted and headed toward the other end of the room, starting to click at the computer. “I take it you have another assignment for me, Sir, but I was hoping to speak with you about having a brief reprieve.” He said, turning his attention back to their leader.

“I’m afraid there is no argument to be made, Keith. This assignment is of dire importance and requires your skills in specific,” He said evenly, tucking the small drive into one of the many secret pockets of his coat. He then turned around and approached the computers as well, opening one of the small compartments where spare drives and part were kept and rummaging through a bit.

Keith clenched his fists at his side before taking a steeling breath. “No. Look, I’ve been pretty agreeable about these missions over the last couple of weeks, but I need a break. I have something very important I’m trying to find time to accomplish,” He said, trying to keep his anger under wraps. The situation reminded him too much of when he was at the Garrison – how his protests that Shiro _wasn’t_ dead, that it _couldn’t_ be a pilot error, _Shiro was too talented and careful for that to be the case_ – and his feelings or opinions were always ignored for more “important” matters.

At the Garrison, it was their asinine simulator scores and graduation rates. For Kolivan and the Blade, it was collecting knowledge.

“This mission is more important, Keith,” Kolivan said with finality as he pulled out whatever he had been looking for. He then turned and walked back over to him, Nihaar a few paces behind him and still as giddy as ever. “Nihaar has already programmed the coordinates into a cruiser for the two of you. I expect you’ll both present yourselves as respectable Blade members.” He said, offering the small box to Keith.

He swiped it away with a small growl and popped it open, blinking a bit in surprise. Inside was a shimmering flower with two sets of translucent petals. His first thought was that it was a primrose that had swallowed a tulip; the petals that were reminiscent of a tulip were more inwards, closer to the small  gray bulb in the center. The petals that were similar to a primrose were more along the outside, and were longer and wider than the flower on Earth. He carefully pulled it from the bag and jumped a bit when twin sets of silk-like vines weaved along his fingers and took a firm hold. The outer petals of the flower suddenly shifted, turning a deep and rich red, while the inner flower turned to a bright and sunny yellow. “What in the world _is_ this?” He breathed out quietly, reaching out to tentatively touch the corners of one of the larger petals.

“It is called a Huywaq flower, from the planet of Gupporw; it feeds and reads the emotions of other living creatures and translates them by changing the hue of its petals in accordance,” Kolivan explained evenly. He then cleared his throat and stood a bit straighter. “The vines take a hold of a living creature near by and stay attached to a comfortable but unburdening degree. It should make for a charming… Ah, what was the world Lance used for it?” He asked, pausing to steal a glance at Nihaar.

The younger Galran snorted and rolled her eyes. “A _corsage_ ,” She said.

“Ah, yes,” He said, nodding as he looked back at the baffled young man before him, “a corsage. It is customary that the pursuer bring a corsage for the object of their affection when attending one of these Prom ceremonies, yes?”

He blinked a bit then slowly tilted his head. “Wait… Is my mission…?” He trailed, hope and a bit of panic beginning to brew up inside of him. The outer petals of the flower changed to golden yellow color while the inner petals became a more teal-like pigment.

“Nihaar went through the messages between you and Lance while you were on the mission prior this last one,” Kolivan started calmly. The female in question leaned a bit closer to waggle her kitten mittens at Keith, as if to drive the point home. “Courtship is a very serious matter for Galra and I will admit I was a bit distressed to see your assignments have been taking you away from such matters. Nihaar and I got in touch with Lance and the other residents of the Castle of Lions to see if we could help coordinate this ceremony in any way. As such, you and Nihaar shall be leaving here immediately so that you can return to them to participate. I shall allow the two of you to take some time off and will send for you when your presence is necessary.”

He tried to open his mouths a few times to say something but nothing came out. His chest panged with a mix of gratitude and being overwhelmed. He forced himself to fight it back and carefully detached the flower from himself. Once it was settled back in the box, the petals returned to their translucent, glimmering state. “Thank you, both of you,” He said, quickly lifting his head to look between the two.

Kolivan offered him a small smile and dip of the head, while Nihaar looped one of her arms through his and began dragging him towards the exit. “You can _thank_ us by successfully courting the Green Paladin! I’ll be _really sore_ if I spent all this time helping to get this set up only to have _you choke_ when sealing the deal!” She announced, her tone that of a mock-lecture as she dragged him along with her.

……………………………………………………………………………………………

When they arrived at the Castle of Lions, Keith was swept away by a frantic Lance and Hunk. “You were _supposed_ to be here an _hour ago_! Allura and Nyma are almost done getting Pidge ready, and Matt and the others are almost done setting everything up out in the Grand Hall! We’ll only be able to stall this ‘diplomatic gala’ for so long before she catches wind that there’s something more going on!” Lance huffed at Nihaar, using air quotes where applicable.

Nihaar’s ears twitched downward and she glared, tail snapping side to side like a whip. “I sent word along that we were gonna be fashionably late! Don’t get your teet in a twist!” She growled back, one paw settling on her hip.

“ _Fashionably late_ only applies to being tardy by any time that is _shorter than fifteen minutes_!” He bickered back.

Before either of them could continue their argument Hunk cleared his throat. “Uh, guys, _you arguing_ is just gonna delay things even longer, yeah? Nihaar, thanks for all your help and being Keith’s ride. Allura mentioned having an outfit for you, too. Coran should still be in the Grand Hall; he can help you find where she and the others are at,” He said, offering a smile at the Galra female.

“Thank you, Yellow Paladin! At least _someone_ on your team knows how to express _gratitude_ ,” She said with a huff, sticking her tongue out at Lance before flouncing off.

Keith flashed a grateful glance up at Hunk, who responded with a small thumbs up.

Getting dressed was relatively easy, all things said. He wasn’t exactly sure when they’d had time to get tuxedos from Earth or find an intergalactic shop that sold Earth-themed attire, but he was impressed by the lengths they’d all gone to for him. Having never worn a tuxedo before, Hunk and Lance helped him with making sure everything was tucked in and snug, and Hunk showed him and Lance both how to tie their ties properly. Just as they finished, Matt poked his head in, dressed to the nines and hair slicked back. He sent one quick dirty look at the dark haired man before looking at Lance with a more neutral expression. “You three better get it in gear; Pidge is starting to get antsy. If she has to wait much longer I think she’ll just bail out on this all together,” He said evenly.

Lance snorted. “Tell her it’s for the greater good of diplomacy!” He retorted.

Matt sent him a bland look. “When has my sister ever been diplomatic about anything when irritated?”

Before anyone could answer, he was gone again. Keith looked at the other two curiously. “Was I imagining things or did he glare at me?”

“He totally did. I think he’s mad you wanna date his sister and didn’t ask his permission first,” Lance agreed, heading over and opening the door for them.

“I want to date Pidge, not Matt; she can make her own decisions,” He scoffed.

“Yeah, but she’s still his little sister. I mean, speaking as a big brother myself, if a guy wanted to woo one of my sisters… I’d appreciate him at least asking me what I thought would be a good approach,” The other said with a small shrug.

“Don’t take his sulking _too_ seriously though; I mean, he still helped get everything set up,” Hunk pointed out quickly.

The three headed most of the way together, but Keith ended up heading towards the dressing room Pidge and the others were in alone. He looked down at the box with her corsage in his hands and took a deep breath as he lightly knocked on the door. He could hear fast footfalls and Allura’s voice, chiding, “Pidge, _please_ , be patient! We just want to make sure you look perfect for this!” The doors slid open to reveal her in a pink gown with one bedazzled strap and her hair knotted up in an intricate bun, a scowl on her lips and looking ready to unleash a slew of Altean swears. Her disposition brightened immediately. “Ah, excellent timing! Pidge, your escort for the evening is here!” She beamed, stepping aside to reveal him.

His eyes fell to Pidge and immediately he felt like his tongue had suddenly lodged itself effectively into his throat. The dress they’d picked for her was certainly something to behold; a strapless little number with a skirt that went to about her mid thigh. It was a bright jade hue – not quite as bright as the green of her armor but a shade just as eye-catching – with a silver lace floral pattern all along the top half. The lace also seemed to have beads sewn into it, adding an extra little pop as they gleamed slightly in the light. Her hair was tied back in a short braid that rested between her shoulder blades and the only trace of make-up on her was the light shimmer of a pink gloss to her lips.

He was grateful; foundation would have covered up the dotting of freckles along the bridge of her nose, reminiscent to him of a starry sky.

“Keith, you’re here, too?” She asked, surprised, but judging from the smile on her lips as she rose up from the small stool she’d been settled at still thrilled to see him. He forced himself to swallow and nodded meekly as she crossed the room to him. “Huh, I guess it makes sense… They sent you as the Blade representative, I take it?”

He shook his head and carefully tugged the box open. “Sorry, but this isn’t actually a diplomatic thing,” He said, setting the emptied box down on a nearby table. He held the flower in one hand, being careful to keep the vines from wrapping around him instinctively, and took her left hand in his own. He set the flower just above her wrist, watching her intrigue and surprise with a smile of his own, as the flower wrapped around her wrist much like it had to him earlier. Once settled, the petals shimmered and changed; the outer petals becoming the same yellow from before while the inner petals became a rich blue-violet hue. “Ever wanted to attend a space prom?”

She blinked a bit as she looked from him to the flower then beamed happily. The petals changed again – inner petals becoming a more distinctly violet hue while the outer petals became a fetching purple tint – and she nodded. “Sounds like an experience well worth my time,” She hummed, taking his offered arm and letting him lead her down the hall to where the festivities were being held.

As it turned out, things had come together better than he could have imagined.

When they had agreed that they were going with the red carpet/grand gala theme Pidge’s original prom had been aiming for, Lance took it and ran for miles. The grand hall of the castle was always held a mystical feelings to it since the first day they had walked through the doors, but there was something about all the lights being a bit dimmed that made it that much more other-worldly. There were strings of what seemed to be some kind of moss hanging in small loops all along the ceiling, but they seemed to be some kind of bio-luminescent organism with the faint white glow they created. The ceiling of the grand hall had either been opened up some how or was having a projection of the night sky above them, both of the planet’s moons full and adding even more to the shimmering, silver and gold gleam of the dance floor. There was a long table off to the side filled with snacks and beverages – provided by Hunk, almost spiked by Lance, guarded by Shiro – while the DJ booth was settled against the opposite wall, with Beezer happily manning the station and pumping out energetic, dance-worthy beats. The rebels were all dressed and tidied up just the same as Team Voltron and seemed to be having fun themselves, a few of them already out on the dance floor.

He stole a glance at Pidge and grinned at the unadulterated wonder on her face. The outer petals had become a richer, emerald green while the interior petals remained unchanged. “Hopefully you know how to do more than just square-dancing, farm boy,” She said with a teasing laugh.

He laughed back as they made their way down the stairs and towards the dance floor. “I guess you’re going to have to find out, won’t you?”

“And I intend to,” She mused, turning around to face him as they took the floor.

They danced to quite a few songs, mostly with upbeat tempos, and he managed to keep pace with her the whole time. Keith himself only knew the bare bones in regards to dancing while it seemed that Pidge knew a few more complicated ones. He didn’t step on her feet – thankfully – and he picked up the steps himself relatively quick. She grinned up at him, a natural flush on her cheeks from excitement, and she rested her hands on his shoulders. “You’re pretty good at keeping up,” She mused softly, a slower song starting up and the lights of the castle dimming a bit.

“Well, I’ve always been a bit of a quick study,” He said with a small shrug, settling both hands on her hips. It took all his self control to not let his poker face slip to reveal how much that little contact had his heart racing. “So, all in all, how would you rate this experience?”

“Oh, this has been a total blast! I didn’t realize how much I’d been wanting to have a night to just unwind and have some fun,” She giggled happily.

“Then I guess I can chalk tonight off as a roaring success. Hopefully this makes up a little for your past prom experience,” He mused lightly.

She perked up and raised an eyebrow, a sly grin turning up on her lips. “Oh? I had a hunch you had a hand in this little shindig,”

He darted his eyes to the side sheepishly, feeling heat creep up along his cheeks and neck. “Yeah, well… I wanted to make sure you had a better memory tethered to the idea of prom… And, uh, maybe something else in mind, too,” He grew quiet at the last statement, peering over his shoulder to make sure they weren’t twirling right into another pair of dancers. Not that it would be hard to avoid if they were – given their steady but slow pace – but he figured it would probably kill the mood he was trying for. “Look, I’m just gonna be blunt with you, okay?”

“Blunt is kinda your M.O., but continue,” She teased lightly.

“Thanks,” He chuckled as he pulled her a little closer, “but as I was saying, there was more to my plan than just… Well, showing you a nice time was absolutely the goal. You work so hard as both a Paladin and on your personal projects and you deserve to have an evening to just have a nice time. Aside from having a nice night, though, I had kinda wanted ask you if… Maybe, you’d be interested in… Like, going on a date? Or, rather, a couple of dates? And attaching the title of boyfriend-girlfriend to that…” He trailed off, growing more uncomfortable and uneasy as he spoke. Her eyes were trained on him alone, so sharp and bright, and it made his resolve waver.

He noticed in his peripheral vision that the petals of the flower had changed yet again; the outer petals a light pink while the interior ones were a light purple tint.

“Keith Kogane, are you asking me to be your girlfriend?” She asked, her tone playful and the light curve of her lips matching. But her eyes were vibrant and warm with another emotion that had his heart skipping beats like a needle on an old record.

“In a way, yes,” He said, trying to coax the same playfulness to his own voice. The effect was lost between his voice cracking at the end as if he was going through puberty all over again.

She hummed and her gaze softened a bit. “It won’t be easy, you know. Between your responsibilities to the Blade and my responsibilities as a Paladin… We’d have to do the long distance thing a lot. And there’s always risks that come with each of our respective duties,” She pointed out, still smiling but a bit more seroius.

Her concerns were absolutely valid and he knew she had a point. “I’d be faithful, and I know you would, too. I’m willing to put in the effort for a shot at something more between us because I believe that you’re worth it. If you think it’d be worth it, then I’d be willing to give it everything I have,” He said, growing more serious himself. A small voice in the back of his mind wondered if Lance had noticed him make his move and told Beezer to keep the music slow, as it shifted to another slower ballad.

She nodded her head a bit, seeming to ponder over his words. Her gaze never faltered from his and slowly she leaned a bit closer, her arms tightening around his neck. “If you hadn’t asked right now, I totally would have cornered you and asked myself, just so you know,” She mused lightly.

“Oh really?” He chuckled lightly, feeling the tension release from him.

“I had a plan, too. I was thinking that a picnic on one of the moons of Arus would be good,” She mused lightly.

“We could always do that still. Kolivan gave me some time off for this prom so I’ll be around for a bit,” He pointed out. While a part of him said that he shouldn’t misuse the time off Kolivan allotted him, another part of him told him to take advantage of the fact his superior had little knowledge of what exactly a prom entailed.

Her grin became a bit more mischievous. “Oh really? Well then, I guess your tail is gonna be all mine until Kolivan whines about needing you back. Hope you’re ready to party with your girlfriend, Kogane,” She purred softly with a grin.

He grinned back and hummed happily, shifting one hand up to offer to her. She took it and let her head settle on his shoulder, releasing a contented sigh. He rested his cheek against the top of her head. “I like the sound of that,” He mused happily, basking in the moment.


	21. Damsels and Light Sabers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Request Fill using a Prompt List from tumblr. Kidge, "Sometimes being a complete nerd comes in handy".

This one was a lot of fun to write! I love the way Pidge and Keith can play off one another and snark. Hope everyone likes it and this is what the requester had in mind!

“Sometimes being a complete nerd comes in handy,” Pidge beamed, holding a slim silver and black handle firmly in her grasp. She tightened her grip, eyes sparking wild and giddy, the glowing green light shooting out of the top making her seem almost manic with her glee. “Oh man, I never thought I’d get to use an actual light saber! Best rescue mission ever!” Her voice took on an excited squeak at the end.

She could officially check “Be a kickass Jedi” off her bucket list.

“Can you maybe geek out about this later, Pidge?” Keith called out from his perch, trapped in a gilded cage overhanging a pool of acid. He leaned back against one of the bars in frustration, keeping a hiss at the cold surface against his bare skin to himself. Down below, the gathering of Fuylutarians darted from here to there, the leader of their group rising from his throne with a scowl.

How they’d gotten in this situation, he still isn’t completely sure. He and Pidge had been sent to the planet of Fuylu to establish first contact. It was a newer planet to join the Coalition and, as such, required debriefing from a member of both Team Voltron and The Blade on what joined would require of them. Upon their arrival, the Fuylutarian leader, Lord Gsar, had become fixated with Keith; specifically his eyes. He spent most of their initial meeting complimenting him on the color and spark to them, making Keith a little uncomfortable and, in turn, making Pidge a bit salty on his behalf. They had insisted on treating he and Pidge to a feast for their arrival, but the food had been tainted and ended up sedating them.

When he awoke, he’d been stripped of his Blade uniform and instead dropped into a pair of beige slacks that barely reached his knees and no shirt. There was a heavy necklace of some kind around his neck that hurt miserably, pinned to him by small hooks or prongs or something that just barely pierced his skin. His exposed skin was littered in intricate paintings of different symbols in various colors that he couldn’t translate or make sense of. He was then told of a prophecy that spoke of a violet eyed stranger who would come to them and awaken their planet’s guardian creature, which would help protect them from sin and ruin.

The sacrifice awakened the great deity by being burned alive in what they believed to be the creature’s stomach acid to obtain their strength, naturally.

Keith had tried to fight his way out of it, he really had, but the necklace seemed to be some kind of device that administered more toxins in to him. “We need you awake,” Lord Gsar had said while poking him lightly on the nose with one long claw, “but we  _do not_  need you causing a scene. That would be  _most_  unwise and unfortunate.” They had begun the preparations shortly after that, slicking his hair back with a foul smelling gel and stuffing him in the cage, and finished setting up Lord Gsar’s throne just in front of the ceremonial area.

Just as they started to lower him in, however, a hooded figure had come rushing in, laser blade at the ready.

He had known almost immediately that it was Pidge, but has still be a bit floored by her skill as she fought back the wave of guards. She had expressed an interesting in learning how to use a sword proper to him and, being a dutiful boyfriend and local sword-fighting enthusiast, Keith had started working with her. They had only had a few training sessions together - their schedules didn’t always line up, after all - but he was proud and a little enamored to see she’d had such great progress with his suggested practices in the time between.

That or she was just  _really_  into pretending she was a Jedi. That worked too.

She grinned up at him cheekily. “You’re just jealous that I have free reign of the force!” She called back.

“I don’t even know what that is!” He called back.

She gasped, head whipping up so fast he was almost worried she’d give herself whiplash. “You  _what_? You’ve  _never_  seen Star Wars before?” She hollered, sounding almost personally insulted by the revelation. A servant darted to Lord Gsar’s side, carrying a light saber on a tray for him, as the ruler took long purposeful strides towards the Green Paladin.

“We’ve been over this; I did more reading than watching TV, Pidge!”

She pivoted her body to more fully face Lord Gsar as he approached. The motion of her carefully nudging the abandoned hilt of a light saber from one of her defeated opponent’s up into the air with the heel of one foot went unnoticed by Lord Gsar, but not Keith. “Tell me, Green Paladin, why are you doing this? Have we not been kind to you in your time here?” He asked, his own saber sparking to life with a bright orange glow.

“Drugging me, locking me in a cell, and planning to sacrifice my bae to your imaginary guardian thing is  _far_  from what I consider ‘kind’, I’m afraid,” She scoffed flatly.

Lord Gsar’s four eyes narrowed in distain and his lip curled up in fury. “How  _dare_ you suggest our guardian does not exist! We join your Coalition and you  _dare_  to  _mock_  us!” He bellowed.

“ _You asked_  to join the Coalition and then proceed to try and commit  _sacrificial homicide_! I don’t care how you dice it, it’s  _still murder_!” She barked back, pointing at him with her light saber.

“She has a point, you know!” Keith called down.

Lord Gsar glared up at him as well. “I will  _not_  take such insolence kindly, regardless of who  _either_ of you are. You wanted a fight, Green Paladin, and so you shall have one,” He growled out, turning his attention back to Pidge.

She scoffed before fishing out her bayard. “Yeah, here’s the thing… You and I? Not  _quite_  a fair fight, you know? So how about I fix the odds a little, hm?” She mused before firing her bayard into the ceiling just above Keith’s cage.

Lord Gsar surged forward with a furious snarl just as Pidge retracted her grappling hook, sailing through the open air towards Keith.

She landed easily on her feet on the top of the cage, placing the light saber handle between her teeth so that she could take hold of the thick chain on the top and retracting her grappling hook. She then carefully tucked her bayard back to her belt and beamed at him, dropping the handle into her hand agian. “Hi, Keith,” She hummed.

He huffed out a small laugh and waved. “Hi, Pidge,”

“So, what’re you  _up_  to?” She asked, snorting a bit at her own pun as she slid a bit closer to the lock on the door of the cage. He’d tried to figure out a way to pick the lock, but it used some kind of combination with the mathematical numbers of the Fuylutarians, which he had been completely unable to figure out.

“Oh, you know,” He drawled, looking down at the fuming Lord Gsar and then back up at her, “just  _hanging_  around.”

Pidge let out a short cackle at his response. “We’ve been spending way too much time with Hunk!” With a quick flick of her wrist, she tossed the blade handle into the air and caught it again, reactivating it to reveal the blade was pointed downwards. With another quick motion, the lock melted away and dropped into the acid pit below. “Then again, I suppose there are worse things in life.”

“Yeah, we could be acting like Lance,” He said before kicking out the door with one good blow. The cage door swung open and he carefully clamored to the edge, grabbing one of the bars and looking around. There was no way he’d be able to leap free from the acid pit safely. He opened his mouth to ask Pidge what they were gonna do, when she offered two light saber handles to him. He took them as she dropped down to rest her feet on the edge of the opened cage, still holding the top bar of the cage to remain secure while getting her bayard back out. “Ah, I almost forgot about that.” He laughed as she shot the grappling hook into the ceiling just on the other side of the acid pit, putting them right back in the brawl with Lord Gsar.

“What, did you think I didn’t have a plan to save you, oh beautiful damsel?” She teased, offering him her other hand.

“How about we how great you are once we actually get back to Green Lion and blast off this Hellhole?” He suggested, taking her hand.

“Don’t worry, sweet cheeks,” She mused, pulling him against her while she gave her bayard one more tug, checking the hold of the line, “I’m a better hero than Hans Solo.” With that, she pushed off the cage and sent them soaring through the air. He kept a firm grip on the handles while looping the other arm around her shoulders. He’d only been dragged along with her on her bayard a handful of times but he always found it exhilarating; the rush of wind in their faces or how their landings had to be flawlessly timed to avoid injury. It reminded him a lot of piloting Red – something he still missed, though he’d never admit it out loud – but with a  little bit more risk to his own person.

As they landed, Keith tossed the handle to Pidge’s light saber into the air. She caught it easily and smirked as she watched him click the blade to cause the bright red blade to appear form his. His dark eyes shimmered in wonder and delight. “Pretty damn cool, right?” She laughed.

“Indeed,” He whistled lightly, making a few test swipes at the air to test the resistance.

Lord Gsar scoffed lightly. “Two against one? Do you doubt your abilities with the blade that much, Green Paladin?” He goaded.

Pidge snorted as she retracted her bayard and clipped it back to her belt again. “Nah, I just figured Keith would want a piece of you himself. After all, you  _did_  intend to murder him in the name of your God,” She said with a casual shrug, sparking her own light saber back to life.

“And you were  _quite_  right about that,” He mused, adjusting his posture to a more correct one for battle. The dirt of the chambers felt surprisingly smooth under his feet. He glanced over at Pidge. “Should we show him why we were sent as a team?”

“ _Absolutely_ ,” She mused before the two of them rushed forward with a battle cry.


	22. Like That Gin Blossoms Song

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Request Fill using a Prompt List from tumblr for firewing290. Kidge, "I should have told you a long time ago". Has some emotional junk in it but ultimately a sweet little piece, I think.

“I should have told you a long time ago,”

For a moment, she felt as if the air had been punched from her lungs at the omission, lifting her head away from the gorgeous skyline to stare at him. He was staring right at her, indigo irises shining with sincerity at the words, completely vulnerable in this moment to her. She felt herself shift and tug her coat more tightly around herself, glaring and turning back to the view stubbornly. The view, however, seemed suddenly more muted, less majestic and more drab.

It was Hunk that had convinced her to take the invitation and she resented him for it at that moment.

When Zarkon had been defeated almost three years ago, the Paladins had returned to Earth. After spending six years up in orbit, it had been nice to reunite her whole family and see the other Paladins with theirs again. He – Keith – seemed displaced, though. He didn’t have a family to go back to, really, but he didn’t seem eager to jump back into space with the Blade. Pidge had approached him with an offer that he come stay with the Holt’s, at least until he figured out what it was that he wanted to do going forward. He’d seemed hesitant to accept the invite until the other members of the Holt clan had descended upon him to insist on his acceptance.

He stayed with them for a whole eight months. He fell into routines with them easily enough, spending a decent amount of time with the others while spending the most time with her. The two had been on decent terms throughout their tenure as Paladins and then allies through the Blade and Voltron, but they’d only known surface level information about each other. Through late night milkshake runs and errand runs together, they learned a lot more and grew closer.

She told him about the merciless bullying she’d received in her youth and he told her about his dismantled family status; both sharing their frustrating experiences with the Garrison.

From there, they started to fall in line with one another’s schedule and spending as much time together as they could. They helped tutor each other with their respective college courses – Keith helped her with History, and she helped him with Computer courses – and started catching up for missed time. They marathoned through all of The Lord of the Rings films – Keith had never seen them – and then they read all the books together – Pidge had never read them – and played video games together. Keith hadn’t really experienced a lot of them growing up, what with bouncing from foster home to foster home, and Pidge loved getting to experience the games through his eyes, as if she were playing through them herself for the first time too.

And then the incident on New Year’s happened.

She mostly blamed Lance – Hunk and Shiro both told her that wasn’t fair – for coming over with plenty of boozes and jello shots and other such fun. “We’re all adults here,” Lance had said with a small sniff, “so why shouldn’t we party like it?” That argument had been all it really took to coerce her into partaking, the idea of getting to drink authentic Earth liquor for the first time an appealing one to say the least. She hadn’t gotten stupid-drunk, just a cozy drunkenness going. She didn’t want to get so drunk that she was useless to the others in terms of conversation or anything like that.

They’d all been having a blast as they prepared for the countdown, getting permission from Samuel to have a bonfire in the backyard and shouting boisterously over important debates like ice cream flavors or which planet they’d visited was the most memorable. They’d pulled up a stream of the ball drop on her computer so that they could still be on time for it, the volume low until they reached five minutes left. Keith had settled into the plastic lawn chair beside her, nursing his fifth or sixth drink, with an easy smile on his lips. His cheeks had been a bit flushed form the mix of chill and booze and his eyes had been bright in the flickering lights of the fire. She’d always found relaxed, transparent Keith to be the most attractive version of him simply due to seeing him being genuine with his feelings and thoughts; even when they were arguing, she admired his transparency in regards to a certain matter.

Once the countdown reached one, she had grabbed the collar of his jacket to get his attention and kissed him, soft so he could easily turn away but eager to show she wanted this.

He kissed back with barely a second thought, one of his hands reaching up to cup her cheek and angle her head a bit better. Lance was howling with cat-calls in the background, but she paid him no mind. Instead she had basked in the delight of his lips against hers - firm and warm and a little bit chapped – until they both mutually tilted away. She looked up at him through eyes half opened and watched the adoration filling his as he studied her face. She felt herself grow warm for a reason completely unrelated to the drinks. They exchanged small smiles before Lance’s teasing jabs became too much to ignore and they fell back in line with the conversation between everyone else, acting as if nothing had happened. Not long after that, they headed to bed with shy smiles and meek waves, with Pidge hoping this would lead to a conversation about entering into a new type of relationship in the morning.

When she went to get him for breakfast, however, she found his room empty. He had taken all of his clothes but none of his personal belongings.

At first, she’d been devastated. She’d been convinced that the feelings she’d come to harbor for him were mutual – that he saw her the same way she saw him – but that quickly turned to anger and betrayal. He had kissed her back, had smiled at her and watched her like she was something special to him. If he didn’t feel the same, he should have pushed her away and told her as much. He shouldn’t have reciprocated like he did. And, after that, she simply accepted that he hadn’t felt the same and that they’d had a good friendship and nothing more. About two months later, she moved out of the family home to attend a university a few states away. She had packed up his personal belongings into three boxes and kept them under the bottom tier of her linen closet, hoping to at least return those things to him if they ever encountered each other again.

And then, over two years after his disappearance, she’d found a small note with her name taped to her apartment door in his script.

She held on to the note for a full day before consulting with Hunk, whom insisted on video-chat that she open and read it. Inside, he explained he wanted to catch up with her and see how she was doing. Included was a cell phone number she could reach him at, and the note specified that she didn’t have to talk to him if she felt uncomfortable, he understood. “You should go,” Hunk had said, sipping at his morning cup of coffee with a small grin.

“And why’s that?” She groused back, tapping the notebook in front of her with a pen. She’d been trying to draft up a grocery list but suddenly food seemed unappetizing.

“If not to give him a chance to explain himself, you should do it for yourself to get some closure. It only has to be about him if you choose to let it be,” He responded, with the kind of psychobabble inclination she’d grown to expect from him. When the boy wasn’t panicking or enraged, he could give Shiro a run for his money in regards to odd sage-like wisdom.

With that, she’d called him up and they scheduled a meet-up time. She refused to call it a date, not wanting to get her hopes up too high.

They’d met up at a nice bar and grill that night and things had been surprisingly familiar. In the two years since they’d last seen, he’d grown up a bit and gotten a haircut – which she teased him about – but they fell back in to old routine easy enough. She told him about her upcoming graduation, about the job prospects she’d already been offered, about other things like that. He dodged questions about himself and insisted on paying the bill, despite Pidge insisting that she could cover her own portion.

After the check was taken care of, Keith insisted on giving her a ride to get milkshakes and find a place to park and talk. She managed to beat him down into accepting her paying for the milkshakes – a victory that had her preening and him chuckling in a tone she would almost call fond – and he found them a lovely little scenic spot overlooking the city. It wasn’t much of a drive on his bike – another of his self-built beauties that she was willing to bet money wasn’t  _technically_  street legal – but it had been nice to slip off with her shake and walk over to the railing. They sipped their drinks in silence, just looking out at the city lights catching on the water and the slowing throng of traffic on the city bridge, and tossed them in a nearby trashcan. She had returned to the railing, leaning heavily on it with both arms and letting out a pleased sigh, breathing in the tang of fresh sea air.

That was when he opened his mouth and said, in a choked and remorseful tone, “I love you.” And then he added in the same tone, “I should have told you a long time ago.”

And that was where she was, starting to close herself off as anger flared through her. “Is  _that_  why you ran off without a word?” She spat, but she didn’t tilt her head to see him. In her peripheral, she saw him flinch before taking a cautious step closer, imitating her posture and joining her against the railing.

“Kinda… I got scared,” He said softly, looking briefly at her before looking back out at the city. She watched him, brow furrowed but letting herself study his face. Keith had never been very good at wearing a poker face, his emotions left out like the ink of a book for all the world to read. “Every single person I’ve ever loved has gone away… Everything good that ever happened to me has, too. I just… I’ve gotten so used to losing everything that I leave before they can. Before those around me realize that I’m not as good as I seem.”

She stared at him a little harder. “I didn’t kiss you out of some imagination of who you are, you know,” She commented.

“That’s what scared me the most. You get me on a different level than anyone else I’ve ever met. You don’t hold me to any other standard than the standard I’ve set with you, don’t try to force me to change and adjust to some other mold that won’t fit right. You see me as just Keith, and while that thought felt so freeing and exhilarating, it was also the most terrifying thing I’ve ever had to confront,” He admitted, turning to face her. His eyes were wide and seemed glossy, but there was nothing but sincerity in those eyes.

She hummed softly as she studied him. She thought about how hard that must have been for him to do, just like she’d seen how hard it had been for him to leave the team to stay with the Blade all those years ago. He’d always been an instinctual creature, more inclined to fall into rhythm with whatever he thought was the right choice in that first second of consideration than to pick the answer apart and determine it’s actual value. Normally his response was fight, but she understood that flight came in to play for things that he didn’t think he could beat in to submission.

And feelings certainly weren’t tangible, punchable things.

“How do I know you won’t just disappear, if I were to let you back in?” She asked, keeping her tone calm.

“I wouldn’t,” He swore, adamant and with conviction. He then swallowed a bit. “I don’t expect to just… Pick things back up from when I left. I understand that you need time for me to prove that I mean what I’m saying. And if you don’t want to give me that chance, I understand that, too. I’m certain I hurt you by just leaving like I did… And you didn’t deserve that. I should have gone to you with my fears, should have talked it out and stayed. I just… I just want you to know that I want to prove to you that I mean what I’m saying. Regardless of what that means happens between us.”

She shifted and turned her gaze back out at the city miles away, the lights starting to brighten again. “We take it slow… I’ll set the pace and you follow my lead. If things are too uncomfortable or daunting to you, I expect you to tell me. If you want to prove that I mean as much to you as you say – that you really want the chance at something more with me – then you need to be willing to put in the same amount of effort as me. Agreed?” She asked, tilting her head a bit again to just barely meet his eye.

She’d never seen him look so stricken and enamored and thankful as he did. He swallowed thickly before nodding.

She unfolded one of her hands and left it in the small space between them, an invitation. It took him less than a second to gently fold his hand over hers. She turned her hand over, gently lacing their fingers and giving a small squeeze, a small sign of her cautious forgiveness.


	23. Shell Casing Shenanigans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Request Fill using a Prompt List from tumblr. Kidge, The Way You Said I Love You List, "Loud, so everyone can hear".

Battles were always hectic and, more times than not, went by in a blur of lasers and explosions.

It kept her mind buzzing, which was good because sometimes it all just felt so terribly overwhelming; being an intergalactic soldier of justice and freedom was terribly taxing on ones emotional well-being, after all. Some nights she would lock herself up and simply focus on her work – personal projects, repairs or upgrades, working through the information Matt and she had found about where their father was – and other nights, she’d end up trapped in the ruins of her fractured facade. She would isolate herself in her room and simply fall apart and slowly piece herself together again, until she was ready to slide her usual mask back on.

She used to hate those nights of isolation. And then Keith happened.

One night while she’d been working through prisoner logs Matt had transferred to her after their latest escapade to a Galra work camp, she’d had a melt down at yet another dead end. She’d felt her chest tighten and breathing became hard, her eyes misting over. She had launched herself from her chair and made a mad dash for her room. She hadn’t been too worried about encountering anyone else because it was so late that they’d all be well doped on the Sandman’s best stuff. Instead, however, she had run right into Keith, on one of his rare reprieves from the Blade of Marmora, making his way back to his own room after a late night session of either training or just milling the halls or whatever it was he did. At that time she had no idea. She had stumbled back in surprise, readjusting her glasses and preparing to lash out at him, as he turned and stared at her in bewilderment.

He blinked twice before the bewilderment was replaced with a bit of understanding. “Why are you crying?” He asked, simple and blunt but somehow a bit of a gentler blow than his usual verbal jabs.

She hadn’t answered him with words, though she had tried. Dear Tesla, she had tried to get her brain to form a cognitive sentence, to get out something that would perhaps be bristly and bitter and chase him far away from her in her wounded state. Instead, what bubbled out of her was a hiccuping sob and her eyes squeezed shut tight to try and withhold more tears. It took a moment before he approached her, slow and cautious, and settled one hand on her shoulders. She cracked her eyes just enough to see the vague shape of him tugging her to him, settling her face against his shoulder and resting only one arm along his shoulders. The other stayed at his side, giving her a chance to squirm away or lash out if she wanted, and that somehow made her hurt more. She pressed into him and slowly reached up, clucking at his t-shirt, and just letting herself fall apart.

He shifted to leave both arms around her and just held her, warm and present and quiet. From there, the seed of trust leading to a blossoming friendship was planted.

He never pushed her for an answer as to why she was upset – she had reason to suspect he knew, but gave him the common courtesy of not calling him out, either – and had offered her the information to reach his communication link if she needed him. “The communicators have an option where we can shut the channel down without having to completely shut the unit down. I’ll leave the channel open when I’m not on active missions or anything, so if you need me during those times, just hit me up,” He offered, a little bit awkward but the sincerity in his concern managing to soften her up to the offer.

He knew there were other people she could talk to, people that were a bit better with words and emotions than he was. She could always talk to Matt about their dad ad how much they missed him; Shiro, too, to some extent, since he’d spent a good amount of time working under Samuel both on Kerberos and also in the months leading up to the assignment. She always had Lance and Hunk for homesickness or video games or technobabble that she knew he could follow to a certain extent. She didn’t  _necessarily_  need him to fall back on, but he was making himself available, regardless of the fact he may not be able to give her what she needed or wanted to feel better.

Slowly but surely, she reached out to him during their shared down time.

The channel had been open and waiting. She sent the request through the link on her computer with a bit of skepticism, tinkering with the mouthpiece of her headset, using the program she’d designed to allow them better communications with the Blade. The mobile communicators they took with them on certain missions were more basic than the other ones, typically only having audio transmissions, which could occasionally be difficult to work with given how advanced Altean tech was. She had taken the mission of a slightly more downgraded program that would work well with the high-processing power of her own laptop and the units Coran used to help work as liaison between Team Voltron and their many associates on with giddiness, seeing it as a rare difference in her routine of using advanced tech to repair advanced tech.

He had answered that first call sounding disgruntled, as if just being awoken, and she’d immediately apologized. Upon realizing it was her, he’d insisted she stay on call and that it was fine, that he’d been sleeping plenty long before her call came in. It had been an uneasy start, with her still wavering and the two of them spending a full twenty minutes bickering on whether or not Keith should be sleeping and if Pidge was being a hypocrite for barking at him about his sleep schedule. After they agreed that they’d set a timer – one hour call time – and started from there.

The first few talks were awkward and they stumbled through finding things to say. They started out with lighter fare for a while, simply chatting about the more minuet details of their days and such. It was trivial stuff, but slowly they started sharing more details and it became easier. They swapped little tips and tricks about things to help each other out. Keith already had a basic understanding of how to hack and stealth, but Pidge helped teach him how to get in a bit quicker and deeper. She clearly couldn’t get him to her level, or too terribly high a caliber, without sitting down with him and showing him through a more hands-on approach, but he seemed to catch on pretty quick to what she was saying. In exchange, Keith helped tell her about tips and tricks to help improve her fighting prowess. She was much smaller than most opponents she came up against and he, someone whom had spent most of his life fighting bigger kids than him, had plenty of experience in getting good at taking down people that seemed to have size over him. There were tactics she already knew – being quicker and being more clever – but he taught her some others that she found made her even more efficient.

From simple battle strategy, they ended up starting to talk about their personal, quiet moments between battles.

She would give him updates about the team as a whole but mostly focused on some of the lighter fare. She told him about the space-muffins Hunk had made that had the consistency of a pancake but tasted like a buttered roll. There weren’t a lot of members around their age in the Blade, but there were a few and it seemed they kept Keith on his toes just as well as the other Paladins had before. Her favorite incident he had regaled her with was one involving some kind of adhesive, a long tail of one of the other members, and a small bell-like object.

With the ground broken, they slowly shared other stories, too; stories form their past. She told him about how she’d broken her arm once as a child when she’d fallen out of a tree. “Matt told me not to climb up so high, but I wouldn’t listen. I didn’t feel the pain at first when I hit the ground but then it slowly hit me, when I looked down and saw… Well… Yeah,” She said with a small laugh, falling back against the pillows on her bed and readjusting her headset. Her smile became softer. “I thought my mom was gonna have a heart attack when Matt went and got her and Dad, but Dad was just cool as a cucumber. He stayed calm and soothed me while calling an ambulance, and stayed with me the whole ride to the hospital. He was also so patient woth me, evener when I messed up.”

“He sounds a lot like my dad,” He chuckled lightly. Pidge could imagine the soft yet sad smile he’d most likely be sporting. She’d seen it a handful of times before in passing, when watching him practice his fighting in the training room prior to the revelation about his Galra heritage. “You may have to suspend your disbelief here, but I was not always the social butterfly that I am today.”

Pidge faked a gasp at the crass joke, having grown fond of Keith dry humor.

“I know. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction,” He said, a shrug in his voice before continuing, “but back to what I was saying. My dad was always really calm and never got too hard on me, which now… I have no idea how he remained dealt with all my shenanigans, with all the phone calls and conferences and other kid’s parents he had to deal with. I was such an unruly little brat.” His tone grew a bit sadder as he had spoken,

“I never would have guessed,” She said, keeping her teasing tone on the delicate side so that he wouldn’t misunderstand how she meant it. Not that they’d had an issue with that; Keith was one of the only people she’d met that she could talk to without being worried about being misunderstood or her well-meaning but harsher words being treated as an intentional jab.

But he had laughed at her comment and perked up a bit. They were able to dress down and share their feelings with each other without fear of judgment or misunderstanding or anything else.

They had plenty of conversations following that one and slowly, talk by talk and bit by bit, she realized that there was something more to how she was coming to feel about him. She didn’t look forward to their talks just because it was nice to have someone she could talk to. She looked forward to them because it was him – Keith – and she had grown attached. In a way she wasn’t completely inexperienced with but in a way she certainly never anticipated. She didn’t shy away from the emotions as they came to her. Pidge Gunderson may not be the best when it came to expressing or considering other people’s feelings, but she was not a coward. She had been planning to confront it head on when he came for his next visit, tell him outright how she felt and see what happened from there.

Then the battle of Giitrulla happened.

Giitrulla was a planet with millions upon millions of plants dedicated to the building of the Galran sentry bots. They were one of the three biggest producers of the damn things – information they’d managed to salvage while looking for Samuel Holt – and it that planet could be liberated? It’d be a pretty decent blow to the Galra forces. The leaders of the small underground rebellion promised that they’d do all they could, working with Hunk and Pidge in secret to develop new chips that would allow them to take possession of an entire assembly-lines worth of Galra sentries to help even the odds a bit. They sent their plan in to action after a full five days of preparation with the support of the rebellion group, a small squad of Blades, the hi-jacked sentries, and Team Voltron itself.

The battle had been a struggle, but that much had been expected. To lose such a huge, influential planet would be a sign to other Galra-controlled worlds that their control was slipping. Things had been going decently until they revealed a huge, tracking laser that honed in on the quintessence readings of Lions themselves, making it near-impossible to avoid. They were only saved by a Blade member crashing their fighter ship into the base and sending the whole thing sky-high.

The Blade member being none other than Keith.

Cold terror had rushed through Pidge as she darted out of Green and made a beeline towards the rubble of the ship and laser, casting her helmet aside and shouting out his name. She vaguely heard the others calling her back but she paid them no heed. “ _Keith_! Keith,  _answer me_!” She shrieked, skidding to a stop a few feet away from the scorching metal of the two devices.

“Pidge,” Allura said, her voice soft as she approached her. She glanced back briefly at the other Paladins, seeing the anguished looks on their faces, then growled and turned back around.

“You don’t  _get_  to play this game,  _asshole_!” She shouted, darting right over to the blaze and starting to yank flaming pieces of ship metal apart, in the area where the cockpit had been. She heard a clamor of panic from the others, and knew someone was making their way to yank her apart, but she ignored them. The latex undersuits they wore under their Paladin armor was quite a bit more fire-resistant than they’d expected so it wasn’t burning her more than holding a mug of fresh hot cocoa would have.“You are gonna drag your  _smoldering ass_  out here so I can tell you I love you and then _beat_  your smoldering ass for  _doing_  this in the first place!” She heard someone gasp behind her at the declaration followed by an excited squeal, though she wasn’t sure who it was. But she also didn’t really care, more focused on making sure that mullet-toting moron wasn’t going to leave her high and dry after realizing how she felt about him.

“Well when you put it like that,” A voice huffed out as she struggled with a larger piece, just barely audible over the cracklign of the blaze around her, “burning to death on an alien planet seems suddenly lackluster.” She gasped a bit, her heart fluttering in her chest with hope, as another pair of fingers brushed against hers as she tried to dislodge a larger piece. She gave it another tug, putting all of her weight into it, as he pushed out with whatever strength he had left in him. The metal shook and rattled before completely collapsing, clattering off to the side in their last minute shove. She stared at him for a moment before offering her hand to help steady him.

There were various knicks and burn marks littering his body, bad enough that his Blade uniform was marred and the irritated skin was exposed. He was leaning heavily on his left leg and sort of dragging his right along with him, so she quickly swooped up beside him and let him lean on her, tugging his arm around her shoulders. There was also blood dripping down the left side of his face, so wide and steady that he had to close his left eye and it was starting to leak down along his cheek. She would have made a snarky comment about him being so edgy he cried tears of blood but she was too relieved that he was actually alive. “Did you really hear me?” She asked as they moved, Hunk and Shiro darting over to try and find a way to help move Keith without hurting him too much while Allura and Lance went to find more help.

“Yeah, but I want you to tell me again when I’m a little less bleeding-out. We can light some candles and have a big show of it like those cheesy rom-coms you like to make fun of,” He said in a somewhat wheezy tone, eyes flickering with pain but also adoration as he looked at her. He smiled and she felt her heart flutter over how it actually reached his eyes. “Oh, and I love you too. But I’ll give you a more romantic one after I’m healed up.” She swallowed hard and nodded, grateful that the others were pretending not to hear them, and started thinking of how she would confess to him again.

When he awoke from the cryopod a day later, she declared her declaration came via shouting it into a megaphone right in his face; as well as proclaiming that he was a total dip shit with the world’s shittiest impulse control. It was far from what he’d been expecting, but he embraced it whole-heartedly.


	24. Portrait Perfect

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Request Fill using a Prompt List from tumblr. Kidge, The Way You Said I Love You List, "In awe, the first time you realized it".

Keith was going to owe Nihaar a huge favor after this.

A few superiors from the Blade would be coming by to see how progress was coming along on their work figuring out how, exactly, Haggar created the Robeasts she sent after Team Voltron. He, however, had plans with a non-Blade member on a planet a few quadrants away for a very special occasion. Plans that didn’t involve spending an entire day being scrutinized by a bunch of high-and-mighty Galra rebel leaders. And so, being a good friend, Nihaar had helped cover for him while he took a fighter ship out for his meet-up. “I can probably get you about three hours before they start looking for you themselves, so make it count,” She had said with a grin and a wink. He had blushed and grumbled out a quick thank you before heading out.

Finding the Green Lion had been easy, even with Pidge finding the most remote location that she could for them.

After landing, he checked over himself once more. He hadn’t wanted to just wear his usual relaxing attire, given this was a very special occasion, and had managed to get himself some nicer clothes to wear with the help of Lance and Allura. He tugged on the sleeves of the his red turtleneck, making sure they were all way at his wrist, and then tugged it free from being tucked into his slacks. Lance had lectured him about looking his best but having the shirt tucked in was a bit too much, he figured. He grabbed the bag with two glasses and a bottle of Tululurah wine – Adwru, another of the younger Blade members, had insisted that Keith take it with him as good luck in his courtship - then stepped out and headed over to Green, grinning to himself the head lowered and jaw opened. “I see you were able to find the spot without too much difficulty,” Pidge said with a small laugh as she started to walk out.

Her hair was tied back in a simple ponytail, showing off the leather choker with the pale turquoise colored stone he’d gotten for her. Unsure of if his plan to break out that night would work, he’d sent it to her a few days before to make sure she’d get it before that night. She had paired it off with a white and green striped dress and what appeared to be a black denim jacket on top. It was all finished off with a pair of black ankle boots with little bows out the outer side. Tucked in the crook of one arm, was a large round basket with a checkered pink and white blanket on top. He smiled and offered his hand to her as she moved to step over the teeth and lower jaw. “You look amazing. And you picked a great spot,” He commented.

“You look pretty slick yourself, Zippy,” She teased with a wink, taking his hand and stepping over. She indicated the basket. “Hope you don’t mind simple sandwiches, deruda sticks, psuedo-macaroni salad and some cookies for dessert.”

“Fine by me. I brought some fancy alien wine if you’re feeling risky; compliments of Adwru,” He said, carefully taking the basket from her and hanging it on the same arm he had the wine on. He then offered his free arm to her.

“The Blade members are really invested in your love life, aren’t they?” She laughed, taking his offer and starting to gently lead him up from the thicket they’d parked in to a hill just ahead of them.

“They find the mating habits of humans absolutely fascinating. I’ve been asked so many ridiculous questions and had my privacy invaded more times than I can count at this point, you have no idea,” He said with a dry laugh.

“Allura and Coran are a lot like that, too. They sat me down for a full twenty minutes to explain everything when I asked them for the basket and blanket. Eventually, I just took the good and tricked Shiro into dealing witht hem for me,”

“So you just sacrificed him like that? How cruel,” He teased.

She shrugged, her grin wide in amusement. “Sacrifices must be made in war, Cadet Kogane,” She said as they reached the top. She swiped the blanket from him and started unfolding it while he set their things down. He then took two of the other ends and they stretched them out together, placing it down carefully to avoid any rocks.

“Oh, so  _I’m_  the cadet here?” He laughed, grabbing their things and bringing them over to the blanket. Pidge took liberty to stretch herself out on the blanket with a contented sigh, her legs stretched out in front of her with her ankles crossed and leaning back on her hands. She tilted her head to watch him as he carefully settled in beside her, making sure to keep his feet from getting any dirt on the blanket.

“Indeed you are!” She teased, taking the basket from him and popping it open. As she fixed their plates, he opened the wine and poured both glasses halfway full. They swapped the plate of food for the glass of drink and, plate settled atop her thighs, indicated the starry night sky above them with a wave of her glass. “Let’s test your knowledge, hm? See that constellation over there, that looks like a lobster? Tell me its name, origin and the name of at least one star that makes it up!” She said before taking a small sip. She blinked in surprise then hummed in amusement. “Tastes like blueberries and pomegranate… Pretty good.”

He took a sip of his own and hummed in agreement, pleasantly surprised by the taste. Last time he’d tried something another member of the Blade gave him it had been unpleasant, to say the least. He then looked back at the clutter of stars she indicated and thought for a moment. “Well, only an amateur would not recognize the constellation of Humorogantica, the giant lobster of lore. It is said that his claws maintain the balance of the ocean waves and the ocean floor, and that one swing of his tail can cause a tsunami in every sea simultaneously. And the star that creates its eye is called Hutor,” He explained, clearing his throat and putting on his Prime Professional tone as he spoke. She nodded along with him, plucking a deruda stick off her plate and tossing it into her mouth. Deruda were a vegetable from another planet that were very similar to carrots in both texture and taste, though they were a bright pink with yellow polka-dots.

“Very good, cadet. And over there, in case you don’t recall,” She mused after taking a bite from her sandwich, indicating another constellation a little ways off, “is the Sword of Yutarado. Yutarado was the legendary hero whom they say defeated Gertrude the Malicious. His sword was made of pure Yoyo Minera, which can only be forged in molten lava on the night of a full moon. The very tip of his blade is represented by that star, there, which is Thorton.”

They played like that as they ate, making up constellations and stories and names for all of them. Pidge rested her head against his shoulder as they started on their second glasses of drink – whatever kind of wine it was, Keith was grateful to note that it didn’t seem to have a terribly high alcohol content to it – and munched idly on the cookies. He was pleased to find that they were chocolate chip and peanut butter; clearly Hunk had been wanting their date to go well, too. “Happy anniversary, Pidge,” He said gently, resting his cheek atop her head.

She giggled lightly and nuzzled a bit closer to him. “I love the necklace, by the way. I mean, for more than just the fact that your my boyfriend and it’s a gift from you. I take it you picked it for a specific reason?” She mused lightly.

He chuckled and nodded, turning to press a small kiss tot he top of her head. “I wanted to mention it’s more than just a decorative piece,” He commented, shifting to sit back up and carefully reached out to untie it. She shifted and helped him remove the necklace. The stone was easily detachable and, with it settled in his palm, he pressed his finger to the small divot in the center. When he did, the stone gleamed before the rounded edges suddenly had tons of long, narrow spikes on it. “It isn’t much, but it’s a good little tool if you ever need to protect yourself.”

She looked up at him in surprise and then wonderment before she leaned up to press a small kiss to his cheek. “You’re ridiculously sweet,” She mused as he clipped the stone back on and tied it back on for her. She then tugged the basket back over to them, rummaging through quietly. “And, hopefully, you like the gift I got for you, too.” She then pulled out a slim, wide package and offered it to him. The wrap job was the clipped out remnants of some alien fashion magazine and he found something endearing about that.

He took and carefully peeled off the wrapping paper, curious. When he opened it, it seemed to be the back of a picture frame, given the small prop along the back. When he turned it around, the frame seemed to be made of a cherry-wood color, with a small white square on the bottom, but the glass seemed to be black. He tilted his head a bit and she leaned a bit closer, indicating the button. He pressed it and the black screen suddenly flickered to life, projecting a picture of he and Pidge from their first date, his arm draped over her shoulder and her arm around his waist. He turned to her and smiled. “I love it,” He said gently.

She winked. “That’s not all. Keep watching,” She said, indicating at the screen again. He turned back and then, a second later, it shifted to a photo of he and the other members of Team Voltron they’d taken on one of his breaks from the Blade. There were a few other photos of him and the others – he training with Lance, laughing at a joke with Hunk, discussing battle tactics with Allura – all that he recalled being taken over their time on the Castle of Lions. Then it switched to he and Shiro from his times back at the Garrison, right before the Kerberos mission. “See, I was able to hack around and track down the files for a whole bunch of other pictures. I even found some from other sources – though that took a lot longer than I anticipated. But I remembered the other day that oyu were really worried about forgetting so I… Oh, here comes my favorite.” She breathed quietly.

The screen switched again, but this time the picture had Keith’s heart picking up in his chest. It was an old picture that he himself didn’t even remember, from his second birthday party. His face and hands were covered in multicolored frosting, some of it even getting into his hair, but he was smiling despite that. Next to him on one side was his dad, laughing and smiling at his son, while on the other side of him was his grandmother with an amused smile on her face and a splattering of frosting on her cheek closest to him. He tried to open his mouth to say something but he couldn’t, his chest thrumming as he was completely overwhelmed.

“Happy anniversary, Keith,” She said quietly.

“I love you,” He said, completely starstruck as he turned to stare at her. A blush hit her cheeks but her smile stayed in place, growing a bit more shy and flustered. He reached out and cupped her cheek with his other hand, keeping the frame clutched safely between the fingers of his other hand. “You’re the  _most incredible_ … Just… This is… You’re too much and I can’t help but fall for you again every time we meet.” He breathed before leaning over and pressing a small kiss to her lips.

She leaned into it and beamed up and him when they pulled away. “I love you too,” She breathed happily before dipping in for a second kiss. As far as one-year anniversaries went, he chalked it up to an unforgettable one.


	25. Mail Call

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> KidgeFest Valentine's Day Event Prompt One Fill: Yours Truly. A night away from his Blade responsibilities gives Keith the chance to think and make a purchase that he thinks will earn him some brownie points with a special someone.

He’d been walking through an intergalactic swap meet with Nihaar and Adwru, two other younger Blade members, when he spotted them. It was a rare day off to the young recruits where they were allotted time to simply mill about off base. “I understand that you are all still relatively young,” Kolivan had said calmly, “and will still expect you to behave yourselves, as you’re all professional trained soldiers, but you should take a little time to unwind.” Adwru revealed that Princess Allura had been getting on Kolivan’s ass during their last meeting about how hard he rode them all once they were flying away from the base.

That had earned a laugh from Keith and Nihaar, the idea of their leader being intimidated by anyone, regardless of title, being too humorous to ignore.

They didn’t have a lot of money and Keith’s permanent ban from the space mall had prohibited any of them from going to the Space Mall, so Nihaar had insisted they go to a nearby swap meet instead. “It’s a pretty cool place; lots of rare goodies for pretty nice prices. Plus, they have some food carts that hang around with the best friend Gultuyar tail and I thikn Keith needs to try it!” She had insisted to Adwru, whom had been flying them. With an annoyed groan, the male Galra agreed and they headed out.

Keith had barely managed to swallow down the Gultuyar tail that Nihaar treated him too – it was a sweet meat that made his teeth hurt and his stomach roll – and then they started on their trek to see what their options were. He had been floored by getting a small pocket knife with five different exchangeable blades for what translated to only five bucks, but it had been the stunning, adorable matching letter writing sets he’d found a few spots down that really caught him off guard. Both were in small wooden boxes with little glass panel over the front to allow them to be seen, but were tied off with lacy ribbons.

He knelt down and indicated it to the alien settled in front of the wears – a four armed being with six eyes and pale orange flesh – whom tilted their head. “Is it okay if I open one of these to get a better look?” He asked, tapping the top of one with one finger lightly.

“Of course,” They agreed before turning their attention to someone else asking about a different item.

He smiled and picked on up, resting it on his knee as he carefully tugged the ribbon off. Adwru peeked over his shoulder curiously, ears perking to attention. “What’chu lookin’ at, pal o’ mine?” He drawled playfully, finishing off the last bite of some cotton candy-esque treat he’d gotten himself.

“It’s a stationary set,” He said calmly, popping open the lid to look at all the trappings inside better. He felt a paw land on his shoulder and someone else lean far too close into his personal space. “Nihaar, do you mind?” He asked, shifting his feet a bit to try and remain upright without dropping the wares in his hands.

“Not at all; you’re a very comfy perch,” She snarked back before reaching past him to indicate what Keith could only describe as a glass smoking pipe.

“What are you getting the stationary set for?” Adwru asked politely, his attention focused on a set of lovely scarves hanging with some other accessories at the top of the little area. Most likely looking for a gift for his moms, since Keith recalled him mentioning the anniversary of when they became bonded mates was coming up soon.

“Might be nice to have,” Keith answered, shrugging in response and also in an attempt to dislodge Nihaar. She retailiated by teasing at his shoulder with her claws, little pin-pricks touching his skin in warning. The set he was looking at was absolutely stunning, in vibrant shades of red and orange and yellow. The actual paper had a crisp and firm feel to it, with almost-smoke like wisps of all the colors bordering the writing space. The envelopes the letters could be put inside looked like the sky as the sun rose in the mornings, lovely waves of pinks and reds and oranges and yellows. There were six square cubes of what seemed to be some kind of wax – two were red, two orange, and two yellow – and a small stamp that was most likely meant to be used to seal the letters shut. There was also a small pot of ink and a lovely white feather quill for writing.

Adwru whistled lowly, leaning slightly over to see them. “Those look like the kinds of sets Altean aristocrats used to exchange as, like, weddings gifts and junk,” He pointed out, making sure to keep his voice low so they weren’t overheard. Thankfully, Nihaar had the stall-keeper busy in debating the price of that strange pipe she’d been so fixated on. “These things are ridiculously pricey for something you’re just buying for the sake of having it.”

“So basically you’re saying that they’re of a quiality that warrants the price,” He said simply while carefully placing everything back inside and closing the lid.

“Well, yeah, but it’ll just be a decorative piece to sit around in your room! I mean, we have advanced communicate technology if you wanted to talk to someone! Letters are a little… Archaic, to say the least,” He argued with a small frown, one ear staying cocked upwards while the other drooped a little bit. His ears always did that when he was confused.

“Well, maybe I just like the idea of being able to actually write on some really nice paper with some ink, for a change,” He said.

“You’re such an  _old man_ ,” Nihaar laughed, finally pushing off his shoulder to swap the alien in charge of the booth some coins for the pipe.

He rolled his eyes a bit, having learned to be patient with Nihaar’s teasing after so long working with her, and carefully put the ribbon back over the box. He left it in his lap and indicated the other one. “Does that one look just like this one, just in green, blue and purple?” He asked.

“Yes, it is,” They answered, dropping what Nihaar had just given them into a small steel box and then offering her some change in exchange.

“How much for both of them?”

“Ah, here’s a man that knows quality when he sees it!” The stall-keeper beamed. They then tapped their chin in thought before smiling, picking up the second set, and placing it on top of the first one on Keith’s lap. “They were originally 45 Turlupa coins each, since they’re pretty high quality, as you can see, but since you’re taking both… I’ll knock the price down to 72 Turlupa coins for the both of them. Sound fair?” Adwru stared down with wide eyes while Nihaar swore under her breath in surprise. Keith pulled out his small coin pouch and fished around, producing the needed funds and handing them over. The alien beamed and revealed a mouth with only four long, protruding fangs and forked snake tongue. “Excellent! Would you like a sack to carry those in while you continue walking around?” They offered.

“Yes, please. Thank you,” Keith said, watching as they reached intoa large tub beside them and started rummaging through for the bag. He looked up to see both his teammates still staring at him in awe. “What?”

“Dude,” Nihaar breathed quietly.

“Do… Do you realize what  _just happened_? You basically just committed a  _fucking robbery_  on this more guy! This guy is undercharging you  _so bad_  it’s making me sick that you’re just  _rolling_  with it!” Adwru blurted frantically, indicating the two sets and then the stall-keep in question.

“ _Dude_ ,” Nihaar drawled out again, a small bubbling laugh escaping her.

“What? What do you mean?” Keith snapped back, glaring back at Adwru. There were times that the other Blade members forgot about the cultural difference between them and Keith. Most of the time it was little things that were easily overlooked or corrected. A reaction such as this, however, seemed a little above the norm.

“These things were worth  _75 Sumtarali stones_  for one back when Altea was still an actual fucking planet! Their even higher in price now that they’re crazy rare!” Keith still wasn’t an expert at alien currency, but even he knew that was significantly more than he’d just been charged; something akin to only being charged fourty bucks for something worth over 500, if he remembered those specific currencies values correctly.

The stall-keep huffed and jabbed Adwru once in the chest firmly with a cane before offering the bag to Keith. “How I pedal my wares is my own business; I don’t need some Galran kitten hissing and snarling at me about my prices,” They sneered flatly, firmly pushing enough to send Adwru stumbling back a few paces. They then gestured around them with the cane. “Now, if all you’re gonna do is make a fuss, you’re more than welcome to keep moving. I have actual customers to talk with.”

Adwru’s ears tipped back and he grumbled bitterly, but turned and stomped off. “Oh geez,” Nihaar said with a  roll of her eyes, “now he’s all grumpy. I’ll go see if I can get him to cheer up; catch up with us when you’re done here, Keith!” With that, she waggled her cat-like fingers at him and darted after their other teammate. Keith watched as she jumped on his back, sending them tumbling face-first into the dirt a few feet ahead of them.

He turned back to the alien and looked from the bag, the sets, then back to them. “If these are worth more, I’d rather pay you the correct amount,” He said sternly, choosing to ignore the fact that he didn’t even  _have_  that much money on him to offer.

They laughed and waved one hand. “Like I told your friend, I charge what I want to for my goods. You can argue about paying a steeper price all you want but I won’t accept a smeckle more. Now, If I were you, I’d bag those up before anyone else notices. Someone who knows what those are worth might try and mug you for them if you aren’t careful,” They said, their voice polite but carrying an air of finality to it.

“Why are you charging me so little for something so valuable? I mean, you could turn a huge profit off this if you sold it to anyone else here,” He pointed out gently, shifting to carefully but quickly put the two stationary sets away. Thankfully the bag they’d given him was made of a dark fabric, so it wasn’t see through, and also had a zipper between the two handles.

“Because I can see you have a lovely plan in mind for how to make use of them. I’d rather sell them to a lovestruck kid planning to make actual use of them than make a huge profit off them for them to just sit on a shelf for the highest bidder to brag about,” They explained, setting their cane back down beside them as they settled back into their seated position form before. They then tapped a small photo beside them, a picture of an alien that looked very similar to them. “That’s what my beloved Stru’latel would want me to do, too.”

He blushed a bit but smiled and waved before heading off to catch up with his friends.

……………………………………………………………………………………………

She was awoken by a loud pounding on her bedroom door. She tried pulling her pillow back over her head and block the noise out, but it just continued on. She groaned, pushing herself upright, and marched right over to the door. It slid open to reveal Lance. “You better have a  _damn good reason_  for waking me up,” She snarled.

He blinked then pouted at her response, one hand on his hip and the other tucked behind his back. “Well good morning to you, too, Pidge!”

“ _Lance_ ,” She drawled out, rubbing at her face with one hand. She’d been up late that night working on decrypting some secret messages they’d been able to infiltrate between two Galra hubs. She wasn’t in the mood for games and just really wanted to go back to sleep.

He huffed before pulling the other arm from behind his back and offering a small box wrapped in gift paper to her. There was also a small green envelope on the top. “This came in the mail for you today,” He said with a small sniff, clearly insulted by her attitude. She took it from him and tilted her head, turning the package over in her hands before looking at the card on top.

She recognized the lovely cursive her name was written in immediately and smiled.

“Thanks, Lance,” She said, giving his shoulder a quick pat before retreating to her room. She heard him call something back in response – either a you’re welcome or other teasing remark, she didn’t particularly care – as she flopped on to her bed. She plucked the card off and set the gift beside her, turning it around. “Oh, fancy,” She giggled to herself at the light purple wax seal keeping the letter closed. The seal resembled what she recalled being an Altean bird called the Hildrugal. Being careful to not rip the actual envelope or break the seal itself, she popped it out and pulled out the little card inside.

 

_Dear Pidge,_

_Sorry I haven’t been able to schedule a proper date with you in so long; Kolivan’s been even more demanding than usual, if that’s possible. I remembered that you mentioned before that you always wanted to have a penpal to give your collection of aethetically pleasing stationary sets purpose, so I was thinking we could maybe do just that. And, I know your actual collection is back on Earth, so I decided to get you a jump start on a new one for space. Hope to hear from you again soon._

 

_Yours Truly,_

_Keith Kogane_

 

She blinked, re-reading it twice, before she giggled and pressed the letter to her chest and flopping back against her bed. “He’s such a  _sap_ ,” She mused to herself, turning on to her side so she could start tearing into the wrapping paper, “and I’m an  _even bigger sap_  for loving it.”


	26. Sweet Little Thing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> KidgeFest Valentine's Day Event Prompt Two: Candy. Companion piece to Chapter 25. There are things that Pidge takes advantage of because she can; meanwhile, Keith keeps denied the right to enjoy them. She decides she’s not letting that continue.

Trips back to Earth were always such a kick.

The alliance with Earth had been made shortly after the coalition’s victory of taking one-third of the Galra-controled universe, deciding it would be good to have access to the Garrison’s resources. They ended up getting a decent amount of new staff for Coran to teach on repairing and maintaining the Castle of Lions, plus it meant there was a little more time for the Paladins themselves to relax and unwind. Regardless, this led to them visiting Earth more often. It was great having the chance to see their families again – Pidge herself being relieved to let her Mom know she and Matt were alive and well and looking for their Dad (until the trip where they brought him home, anyway) – and it also let them get Earth provisions to take in to space. They weren’t absolutely necessary, given they had a plethora of foods from other planets that were safe for human consumption, but it was nice to be able to get things that tasted like what one would expect.

She was visiting with her Mom and helping her with the grocery shopping when the thought occurred to her.

Colleen had left Pidge in charge of the list, trusting her to grab what they needed as they combed through the aisles. They’d been going down the snack food aisle, grabbing some cookies and chips and snack cakes when she paused in reaching for the Nutty Bars. Colleen seemed to notice her heisitation and glanced over, calmly placing a bag of cheeder and sour cream chips in the cart. “Is something wrong, hun? I figured you’d love to have some of those while your visiting,” She said.

She perked up and smiled before nodding. “Yeah, I just… I was just thinking about Keith,” She said gently, plucking the box from the shelf and setting it in the cart.

“Ah, the infamous Keith… When am I going to meet him, darling? I want to make sure you let me know ahead of time so I had time to make a fresh lasagna for dinner,” She pressed, playfully bopping her daughter’s hip with her own as she continued down the aisle.

Pidge huffed as she jogged to catch up with her. “Well, he was supposed to come with us this time, but I guess Adwru got pretty banged up on their last mission and Nihaar needed someone she was used to working with for her next mission so he got suckered into staying,” Pidge said with a small sigh, crossing her arms over her chest. It had been frustrating when Keith had called to say he wasn’t going to make it, but it bothered her more for him. He’d been really excited when she suggested that he come spend time with her and her family.

Colleen hummed in thought as she turned out of the aisle. “Adwru and Nihaar… You’ve mentioned them before, right? Those are his friends?”

“Yeah, they’re his teammates and they’ve become friends over time. Nihaar is the really energetic one and Adwru is the kinda stuffy, know-it-all,”

“Adwru was the one that blamed that prank he played on Nihaar on Keith that one time, right? Casue I think you said she was a tail, and he glued a bell to it?” She asked as she plucked a bottle of dish soap of the shelf, popped the top and took a whiff. She then made a face and replaced it with another one.

Pidge laughed and nodded. “Yeah, that was them… Man, Keith was pissed when that happened… A lot like how he seemed pissed when he said he couldn’t come with,” She sighed. She wasn’t mad at Keith for not being there – he would be, if the poor boy had the choice – but she was more mad at Kolivan for the decision he made. Weren’t their other Blade members that could have gone with Nihaar on her assignment? Sure, Pidge had heard that the young female could be a bit rowdy and difficult to work with, but there had to be a higher ranking officer that had trained her. Surely she’d work well and listen to them, right? “It just seems really unfair to him. And I know I’m probably not gonna see him for another two weeks but I’d still like to do something nice to try and lift his spirits a little.”

“What did you have in mind?” Colleen asked curiously, eyes sparking bright with excitement. She always got so excited when Pidge talked with her about her relationship. For Colleen, she’d never felt comfortable reaching out to her own mother about these sorts of things, so having a close relationship with her own daughter was painfully important to her.

“Do you think that a care package would be too much?” She asked, moving to lean against the handle of the cart as her Mom walked over the dryer sheets and shifted through to find her preferred brand. She smiled when she grabbed three; she always sent Matt and Pidge with a box of them each so that their clothes would have a small smell like home to help them through the days. “Like, I know for a fact that he hasn’t been able to have any Earth food since this whole Voltron thing started. I’ve been trying to stash some stuff for him between our visits here, so that there’s something for him when he comes to see me at the Castle, but someone else always eats it first! Even when I label it!” She grumbled, glaring at a small smudge on the store tile to the left of her feet. It was probably that Randall guy that was always slinking around the kitchen. She’d seen him eat one of Hunk’s strawberry shortcake rolls one time, despite them being clearly labelled.

“Whoever is stealing all the snacks sounds like they need a trip in the airlock to be reminded that dibs rules are in place for a reason. I mean, do they want society to just collapse in on its own weight?” Colleen asked, placing one hand on her hip and cocking an eyebrow.

“See, that’s what I told Coran and Allura, but they said that it would be ‘mean-spirited and petty’ of me to do that! Like I’d actully shoot them out completely, please! I’d just open the door up a little, maybe ruin a good pair of underwear, something mundane like that,” She laughed, pushing off the shopping cart and letting Colleen resume walking through.

“Well, I think that a care package would be a wonderful idea, so long as you have a way to send it to him. You wouldn’t want this snack thief getting into those, after all,”

“Oh, I could totally send it to him. We have a private mail line running between Team Voltron, the Rebels group Matt’s working with and the Blade and Marmora. Me and Keith send letters back and forth all the time for the fun of it, and sometimes we send little trinkets along too. Sure, a care package would be a bit bigger, but I could get the clearance for it,” She said with a thoughtful hum, tapping her chin lightly.

Colleen rummaged through her purse and pulled out the minature notebook and pen she always kept on hand - “You never know when you’re going to need to jot down a thought,” - and offered it to her. “Why don’t you take a little extra time to look down the aisles and see what kinds of things you think Keith might like? And then, tomorrow morning, you and I can come back after breakfast and pick everything up.” She suggested happily.

She smiled then frowned. “Oh, but what about keeping things at the right temperature? I know for a fact that he’d probably commit murder for some mint chocolate chip ice cream out there, but it’d probably melt before it got ot him,” She said worriedly.

“Well, I’m sure if you ask your Dad,” She suggested, “he’d be more than happy to help you design a package that could maintain the cold for such a long period of time. He’s been raving about wanting a project to work on while he figures out if he’s going to go back to the Garrison or not. And with the two of you working on it together, I have no doubt you could get it done well before you need to be heading back.

Pidge beamed and hugged her tightly. “You’re the coolest Mom in the whole universe, you know that?” She said happily.

Colleen giggled and hugged her back, squeezing and shaking her a bit as she did. “Only because I have the coolest daughter in the whole universe,” She hummed lightly.

 

………………………………………………………………………………….

All Keith wanted to do was duck back into his room, take a long and hot shower, and maybe call his girlfriend if she wasn’t busy with anything else. It had been a full three weeks since he’d last seen her and a full week since they’d last spoken and he was worn out. Judging by how Nihaar was dragging herself along behind him, he was willing to wager she was just as bushed.

“Yo, Keith,” Adwru called, waving a small red envelope in the air to catch his attention from where he was at the mess hall table, “looks like your mate sent something along for you.”

He flushed a little bit at the terms. “I told you before, Adwru; she’s  _not_  my mate. She’s my  _girlfriend_. There’s a difference in Earthling culture,” He said, swiping the note from him. He’d explained it many times to both Nihaar and Adwru, how exactly human relationships worked and developed. For Galra, there was a courting period, the decision to become mates, and then a point where you became bonded mates. If Keith was honest, being mates was technically what he and Pidge were, but putting that label to it was embarrassing and felt like telling his teammates about some kind of addition intimacy to their relationship he didn’t feel comfortable sharing.

Nihaar still said that Pidge was his mate, too, but she did that more because she knew it bothered him.

“Well, regardless, she sent you this,” Adwru said while indicating the two decently sized crates settled in front of him on the table.

He blinked, bewildered, and stepped over, examining the crate curiously. One was a simply wooden crate with a combination lock to keep it closed; a wise decision, on her part. The other seemed to be made of some kind of metal and was filled to the brim with things, judging by the noise it made when he rapped it with his knuckles. “You didn’t open it,” He commented, smirking a bit at the small combination lock on the front of it.

“Not for lack of trying,” Adwru admitted.

Nihaar laughed as she walked towards the large cooler-esque device they kept water bottles in. “And you say  _I’m_  the nosy one!”

“You’re  _both_  nosy,” Keith said flatly before calmly turning the dial on the lock. He didn’t need to be told what the numbers were because he already knew; 0-3-0-7, March 7th, the night they officially became a couple. He pushed the lid open and was greeted by a quick black of cold air. He froze and then started laughing in delight, starting to pull the items out and look them over.

A small package of oven-roasted turkey for sandwiches, a small thing of mayo, a tomato, a small bag of lettuce leaves and a small bag with a few slices of swiss cheese. A pint of mint chocolate chip ice cream. A bag of fun-sized Snickers bars, Twix bars, and Milky Way bars. A box of Ding-Dongs, Ho-Hos and Nutty Bars. A six-pack of A&W root beer.

“What are those?” Adwru asked, tenatively poking at the bag of Twix bars. He jumped a bit in surprise when he found them to be chilled.

“They’re snacks. From Earth,” Keith said in wonder as he yanked open the letter.

_Dear Keith,_

_You know, I’m really starting to think you should tell Kolivan where to put his grapes. The fact that he keeps taking you away from having some time off is absloutely ridiculous. And I’m not just saying this because I’m your girlfriend and I would very much like some face-smooching time! This is from a scientific and morally justified stance of you deserving to have some time to eat Earth junk again! As such, I went ahead and decided to give you a small solution for this time. The second crate has all the non-chilled goods in it – there’s some chips and cookies and other things in there – so you should have enough to at least get a little taste of home again. I know it isn’t much, but I figured it was better than nothing. Hopefully I get to see you again so you can let me know what I remembered you liking and what I got wrong~! ;3c_

_Love always,_

_Katie Holt_

He smiled and carefully put everything back but the pint of ice cream. He closed the cooler again, opened the wooden crate, and found a small box of plastic cutlery inside. He fished out a spoon and then closed that one, too. He nearly wept as he took his first spoonful of ice cream, both from the taste but also from having the coolest girlfriend in the whole universe.


	27. Kids Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> KidgeFest Valentine's Day Event Prompt Three Fill: Love Song. Finale to Chapters 25 and 26. Inspired by the song by Artist vs Poet of the same title. And when I’m feeling small, You help me through it all.

He grew sick of the constant lectures he got from Kolivan pretty quick and simply adjusted to taking it in stride.

He knew he wasn’t supposed to go sticking his neck out to save other Blade members on missions. “We may work with Voltron,” Kolivan had said, sounding tired from having the conversation for yet another time, “but we are not them. The Blade has other priorities. Knowledge or death, Keith; that is what it means to be a member of the Blade.” He hated having to hear that phrase over and over again. It just reminded him that he didn’t belong there, with the rest of them. Sure, he was half-Galra like a good chunk of the other members, but he was like them. He didn’t bear any hint of his Galran heritage physically – due to never being injected with small doses of quintessenses as a child, he later learned – and he had spend so many years of his life participating in things that required teamwork that he wasn’t so good at that.

Pidge had once teasingly called him the lone wolf that actually looked out for an entire pack but it was more accurate than he’d like to admit.

He headed back to his own room in their headquarters and slumped against the small cot-like bed there. He’d just been reamed into because Nihaar had gone ahead and saved another member of the Blade while retreating from a Galra-hub with a device full of secret, coded files. It hadn’t been hard for them to figure out where she’d picked that habit up from, all things considered. The other Blade that she’d saved was furious when she woke up – actually tried to attack Nihaar for denying her the glory of death on the battlefield – and Kolivan warned that they would be permenantly kept from working together if the problem persisted.

Nihaar was one of the few Blade members that was good to Keith. She was more a friend than a comrade and he hated the idea of never getting to work with her again. He trusted Nihaar and knew she had his back in a way that only two other people in Keith’s life ever had. She was a great support and had taught him a lot about his Galran heritage that he never would have known otherwise. The older members of the Blade had no patience for his questions and curiosity, while Nihaar was always eager to tell him what she knew as long as he shared the Earth snacks he kept stashed in his room with her. There was only one other place in the galaxy that he felt comfortable being himself without fear of reprecussions.

“Geez, these windows are really easy to open, aren’t they?” An all too familiar voice goaded from the other side of his room.

Speaking of Keith’s limited safe places to fall.

He jerked upright and looked over, needing to verify that his ears had been right. There, with a small stereo playing quiet music, was none other than Pidge, sitting cross-legged in the slightly ajar mouth of the Green Lion. “What are you doing in my neck of the woods?” He asked, skeptical that she was actually here. Pidge had been on the Blade’s main base before – she was a Paladin of Voltron and his girlfriend, after all – but to see her here on personal business without him knowing was strange.

She shrugged, adjusting the boombox in her lap, and the little spurs on the leather jacket she was wearing clinked together softly. “I was just in the neighborhood… Figured I’d see if I could convince a pretty little thank like you to sneak out for a night on the town,” She said, winking playfully.

He snickered a bit and shook his head. “Kolivan would kill me if I did. I’m already in enough trouble with him as it is,” He said, shoulders sagging a bit as he remembered the previous conversation.

“What was he getting on you about this time?” Pidge asked, rolling her eyes a bit. She was probably the only other person as sick of Kolivan’s treatment of Keith than Keith himself, if he was honest.

“I guess Nihaar saved another blade from getting blown up after an intel gather went south. Now he’s threatening to break us up on missions if I don’t stop exhibiting behaviors that directly conflict with the initiative of the Blade,” He explained, keeping his gaze casted to the floor. Not too long ago, he would have gotten defensive or shut down at a question like that. Well, admittedly, he still tended to get a bit aggressive when he was pestered about what was wrong with him.

Unless the person asking was Pidge, that is.

“Are you kidding me?” She sputtered indignantly. She huffed and changed the tracks on her boombox to something a bit more intense to match her mood. “That’s absolutely stupid! The Blade numbers are already kinda pathetic compared to any other group we’re allied with! You’d think that maintaining what little they have would be a huge benefit! Want me to Allura on him? I know she’s having another meeting with all the groups in the coalition soon. I’m sure she’d have a field day dressing him down in front of a bunch of other leader-types.”

He chuckled and shook his head. “For as much as I appreciate that offer, I shouldn’t. The fact remains that I shouldn’t be doing things against Blade regulations,”

“You’ll never be able to fit in with them the way things are, Keith. You’re too genuinely loving and compassionate to abandon someone on the battlefield; consequences be damned,” She said in a gentle but serious tone. He paused and stared at her, meeting her blazing gaze. “That’s why you’re still doing it, even after all this time you’ve been working with the, and it’s honestly one of the reasons I love you so much. You’re a real softie underneath that edgelord exterior, and you won’t stop doing something when you know that you’re right, and I sincerely hope that you never do. The galaxy would be a lot better with more people that think like you in it.”

He opened his mouth to say something then closed it again, unsure of how to respond. He learned that, when Pidge was allowed to be honest, she could say things that were sincerely sweet. She – much like him – had a bad habit of shoving her foot in her mouth and being misinterpretted. He had dealt with that a lot growing up, too, and had been so relieved as he got closer to her and found it wasn’t like that. For the longest time they’d both apologize right after saying something that might be seen as harsh or rude, but the other would wave it off, completely unperturbed and understanding.

He knew what she was saying, both what the words meant at face value and the other message attached.

“Now, given that, it sounds like you absolutely need a night out. Get changed and get in the Lion,” She hummed with a small click of her tongue, setting the bookbox off to the side and crawling to the edge of Green’s mouth. If not for the fact the mechanical feline was nearly pressed right up against the building itself, he’d have panicked about her falling out.

“And where, exactly, are you planning to take me?” He asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

She beamed at him, smug and proud. “We – Lance, Matt and I – may have found an illegal spaceship racing derby not too far off from here. Lance is planning to enter the race with Red. The rest of us – Matt, Hunk, Allura and the two of us – are going along for moral support. And to, you know, maybe do some gambling,” She explained, her tone completely casual.

Keith hummed then glanced back at the door to his room. “If Kolivan finds out I bailed -!”

“If Kolivan gets huffy, I’ll lie and tell him that it’s an Earthling courtship ritual or something. I always have a contingency plan, and if I don’t, I can cook one up like  _that_ ,” She said, snapping her fingers for emphasis. She then clearled her throat and patted one of Green’s large metal fangs. “Now why don’t you get all dolled up for a trip on the space equivalent of a magic carpet?”

“I’ve flown a Lion before, you know,” He laughed, but he turned and headed towards the small closet regardless.

“Hey, I am being suave here. Don’t spoil my fun,” She tsked back at him.

“Have you been getting advice for Lance?”

“Rude. I haven’t gotten that desperate yet,”

“Not yet?” He teased back, disappearing into his closet to actuall change. He left the door cracked a bit so that he could keep talking to her.

“Give me some credit. I came here because I just had a feeling you were gonna need me, so I may not have figured this whole thing out ahead of time. Well, that I thought you’d enjoy going to the race. I know how much you like checking out the craftsmanship behind some of the self-built ships other non-Galran factions use,” She commented.

He smiled as he tugged up his jeans and slipped a belt through the loops. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t at least a little interested,” He agreed.

“Damn right you would be!” She laughed lightly.

“You know,” He called, tugging a shirt over his head, “isn’t this situation supposed to be the other way around? Like, you know, the guy coerces the girl to sneak out while Daddy isn’t looking to go to some risky event?”

“Have we ever followed the norms of a situation in our relationship?” She retorted as he opened the door, grabbing his jacket and shoving it on as he crossed the room to her. She stood up, one hand holding the handle of the boombox and the other extended to him.

“No, we haven’t. And I hope we never do; I like the surprise you bring to my life,” He said, smile wide and sincere and warm.

“Right back at you, Kogane,” She mused back, leaning up to give him a quick kiss. He tried to chase after her but she stepped back. “Ah, ah. You gotta wait until we get their if you want more.”

He chuckled and followed her into the cockpit, making a note to remind Pidge to leave hickies in less obvious places this time around. The hour-long conversation hed had with Zartula, another Blade general that was working with Kolivan, about the Galran equivalent of safe sex had been humiliating – hilarious to Pidge when she told him – and was something he’d like to avoid again.


	28. Chink in the Armor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kidge Week 2018 Day 1 Prompt Fill. Adjusting to new roles and positions can be difficult for anyone; however, sometimes it isn’t adjusting to your own position that can be difficult to deal with.

Kolivan had brought him along with him to visit the Paladin’s and discuss their next move. It had been a while since last Keith had seen the others and he was a bit excited. Even though Krolia hadn’t come along with them, he was excited to tell the others that he had met his mother and started to learn more about his family; especially Pidge, whom had always been very supportive of his growing curiosity over the maternal side of his family tree. He remembered her offers to do some digging and searching on missions for him, insisting that she would help him in any way that she possibly could.

He took comfort in knowing she had his back.

Once they’d gotten more comfortable with their positions on the team, she always seemed to have his back, really. She was the shield of Voltron, but in a way she had also become his shield. When he needed her, she was there for him. When he had been leader of Voltron, she had tried her best to sway him from making risky, harmful decisions; and not by way of force or yelling, but simply by bringing up facts to him. He tended to go by instinct and baser emotion as opposed to logic or reason. Pidge herself tended to be a bit more emotional about certain subjects, but she was ultimately better at knowing when to use her wits as opposed to her heart.

He admired that in her.

He, in turn, did his best to offer her that same comfort. He looked after you and took initiative for making sure she made it back to her room when she’d been working too long. He would take her food and drinks while she was working, and sometimes simply join her and watch her work. Sometimes they swapped stories while other times they simply enjoyed a comfortable silence between them. If she was being stubborn about eating or sleeping, he was right there, ready to lock horns and bicker with her. Sometimes she wore him out and he’d leave, too frustrated to deal with her any longer, but other times he would manage to wear her down into doing what was best for her health.

He felt good, knowing that he could be of use to her.

Coran and Shiro led them to the observation deck above the training deck upon their arrival, the trio of older males chatting idly about a successful liberation the Paladin’s had recently undertaken with the help of Blade intel. Keith slipped past them to watch the training exercise playing out below, uninterested in what exactly they were talking about, and let his eyes settle on the training grounds below curiously.

The training exercise was one he recalled all too well; a tag-team match to work on team dynamics and making sure that everyone could play off of one another well. He had gone through it multiples times himself, as well as observed it multiple times as well, and figured it made a good amount of sense. While they had started to build a decent strategy back when he was Red Paladin, though they hadn’t run the exercise nearly as oft as they should have back when he was Black Paladin. Things had changed a lot since his tenure on the team as a whole so it made sense that this exercise would be needed. Shiro had returned as the Black Paladin. Allura was the Blue Paladin now. Lance was the Red Paladin now.

Keith chose to ignore a sensation that ached deep inside, speaking to him of a familiar cockpit and familiar purr in his mind.  _Lance_  was the Red Paladin now.

He was a bit curious, though, how things worked out for Lance and Pidge as teammates. Lance was a sniper and a pretty decent mid-range shot. Pidge, meanwhile, used a grappling hook-Taser hybrid to help her clean house in a fight. She was good at close combat and long range, but if she was going in close and fast then she needed a good partner. Keith, being comfortable with close combat himself, as he preferred fisticuffs and fought with blades, had always been a good match for her. He couldn’t even recall how many times the two of them had wrecked the training bots together simply by knowing how to move around one another.

His eyes keyed in on Pidge immediately, watching as the training bot swung at her with its staff. His hand twitched at his side, clasping at his luxite blade on his hip on instinct. It held the same post as his bayard had once before. He watched, stunned, as the scene before him played out, identical to how it would have if he’d been down there beside her.

She ducked, leaning backwards to the point her back almost brushed the floor of the training deck.

 _He_  surged forward from where he’d been posted a few feet back, firing rounds at another training bot, his bayard shifting to a long sword. He pushed off the ground, sending himself upward, and blocked the staff of the bot and pushed it back a bit.

She rolled aside, sending her own bayard out to hook around it’s foot, and yanked hard.

 _He_  shifted, landing evenly on his feet, and pierced the bot with his blade.

 _He_  offered her his hand with a proud laugh. She took it eagerly, laughing herself, and then high-fiving once she was up on her feet again. They started talking, animated and eager, and all Keith could do was sit there and watch from the sidelines.

How many times had that scene played out between he and Pidge in the past? Back when he was an actual member of the team?

“They’ve gotten pretty good as a team,” Shiro said, beside him suddenly, and he spun around a touch too quick to look at him. The other had his arms crossed and was looking out at the other Paladins as well. “Allura’s always been a natural fighter, but she works surprisingly well with Hunk. I think her being a bit more offensive works well to Hunk’s more defensive position most of the time.”

He stared at him the watch the other four as they convened, Lance making some grand display and using his sword more like a wand to demonstrate his point. “Neat trick he’s got going there,” He said, nodding his head in the other’s direction, trying to keep the bitterness from his tone.

Judging by the slight twitch at the corner of Shiro’s lips, it wasn’t successful. “You mean the broad sword? Allura says it’s most likely due to his heightening abilities. The bayard adapts as its user needs it to, so it’s safe to say the other bayards would be capable of something similar if the other’s ever needed a different weapon. I mean, back when he was using the blue bayard, he was able to shift between which gun model he needed, too,” He explained, as if that would somehow soothe Keith’s irritation.

It didn’t.

“Must be nice to have a weapon that changes as necessary. Can help compensate a bit, I’m sure,” He grumbled quietly.

“Your Blade dagger can do something similar,” Kolivan pointed out as he approached as well.

He flinched then turned to glare at his commander. “That’s different! I had to earn the ability to have access to both of its modes!” He snapped back.

The older Galran seemed unperturbed by his little breakdown. “It sounds like he had to earn that right as well. Or are you trying to imply that you think the current Red Paladin is unfit in his position?”

Keith growled while Shiro held up one hand. “Woah, I think that’s a bit much, Kolivan. I think it’s more that Keith has worked with Lance in the past and just hasn’t had the chance to see how much he’s progressed since Keith decided to focus on his work with the Blade,” He said evenly.

And by “decided to focus on his work with the Blade” he  _really_  meant “abandoned Team Voltron because he couldn’t hack it as leader”.

He turned on his heels and headed out with another word, ignoring Shiro calling him back over or the mildly irritated scowl Kolivan flashed him. He didn’t need to stand there and tolerate them talking about his decisions like he didn’t know how they both judged him by it. Shiro, he was certain, saw it as proof that he was still too foolhardy to be trusted with authority or exceedingly high amounts of power. He remembered the way his brow had twitched during the update of the missions they’d taken during Keith’s tenure as Black Paladin. He still remembered how, even when he hadn’t been in any Lion or out on the battlefield in even a cruiser, Shiro had tried to dictate how they proceed when they intercepted Lotor all that time ago. He still remembered how the other man had tried to lecture him after he’d nearly crashed his ship into the shields of Haggar’s ship.

Sometimes he felt like he was back at the Garrison, but Shiro wasn’t Shiro; he was Iverson, constantly on his ass about what a waste his natural talent was. It took all his self-control to not let that same searing rage burn him from the inside out. It took him telling himself over and over that it was  _Shiro_  and  _he was only saying it because he cared_  to keep him from outright decking him in the face, just like he had with Iverson a few years back.

And, he thought, something about the hypocrisy of the whole thing bothered him.  _How dare_  Keith be willing to sacrifice himself to save everyone he cared about, while Shiro willingly allied himself with Lotor against the wishes of his entire team? He saw through that in two seconds. Shiro was just as bad as Keith; he just got off the hook because he was the Garrison’s Golden Boy, even when he was galaxies away from the damn place.

And Kolivan? He wasn’t much better, either, with how he constantly rode Keith about falling in line with the Blade ideals. That made even less sense to Keith after meeting Krolia and finding out that the stunt she had pulled to save his skin wasn’t the first time she’d taken action like that. In yet she was still a relatively high-ranking Blade operative! When he had tried to call him out on it, Kolivan had waved him off with an air of indifference and claims that Keith was still too new to war to understand. He had refused to drop it, though, and tried to argue further.

Shortly after Kolivan had finally barked at him to shut his mouth, they’d left for the Castle of Lions. A move, he suspected, meant to try and calm Keith back down.

He skid to a stop outside the doors of the training deck and stared. As if being here, the place of his greatest failures and greatest losses, would be able to sweeten him back up. He was about to keep going, to maybe find one of his old haunts on the ship, when the doors slid open and he came face to face with the others.

“Keith!” Pidge chimed excitedly, ducking out from under Lance’s arms before all four of them lunged at him.

He blinked then laughed a bit, shifting one of his legs back a bit so that he could keep his balance as they all hugged him. It was still a challenge, but thankfully enough Hunk was a pretty solid guy that kept them all grounded by sheer force of his embrace. They were all excitedly babbling at him, talking over one another and making it nearly impossible to really understand them.

After a moment, Pidge suddenly huffed and pushed on him, sending them a bit farther from the other three. “Okay, enough of that! If Keith’s here to visit, then I call dibs first!” Pidge declared.

Lance blinked then snorted. “How is that even fair? Maybe I wanted to show off that he isn’t the only sleek sword master around here!” He said, flashing a haughty grin at the other male.

Keith blinked once before scoffing a bit. “I saw you guys from the training deck observation area. Your form was sloppy, which hinted that you haven’t been using the blade very long, and if it wasn’t for Pidge having your back, that training bot could have very easily disarmed and defeated you,” He deadpanned.

Lance flushed while Pidge laughed and stuck her tongue out at him. “Told you I was carrying your sorry tail!”

“Oh please! Keith’s just jealous that I’m blazing a trail he’ll never be able to catch up to!” Lance snapped back, crossing his arms over his chest and sneering down at them.

Keith watched as he and Pidge had their back and forth, something he’d gotten use to watching, but something in him ached dully. A sense of dread was rushing through him the longer he stood there and observed them all interacting with one another. The team was fine – Hell, maybe even better off – without him around him. What would they care about what he’d done in his time with the Blade? Would Pidge still hold any interest in his discovering who his mother was?

After all, he wasn’t a Paladin. He was no longer the Sword of Voltron. What use could he possibly serve to her, now?


	29. Vogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kidge Week 2018 Day 2 Prompt Fill. Canon Divergent. Coran decides that it could be a good idea for the Paladin’s to work a photo shoot to help with publicity for themselves and the rebellion. But there may be more perks to working with a fashionista than just getting more attention.

Coran clapped his hands together, rubbed them, and then grinned widely at the Paladin’s assembled in the hanger. “Okay, team, I have some fantastic news to share with you all!” He beamed.

Lance cast him a skeptical glance. “And we’re holding this meeting in the hanger  _because_?” He trailed off.

“Pidge is finishing up a project and refuses to take a break until it’s done,” Keith explained with a small shrug, leaning back against the aforementioned Paladin’s work desk. She flashed a small thumbs-up at his response.

Blue eyes rolled at that. “You know, Keith, you’re  _supposed_  to be our leader, right? Shouldn’t you be able to make her come to the front room so that we can have the meeting like we normally do?” He asked flatly. Pidge held her fist back up but flashed a thumbs-down this time. “Spamming the dislike button won’t make what I’m saying seem any less reasonable, Pidge.”

“I don’t see why it matters where we have the meeting, so long as everyone is in attendance and we get the information out,” Keith answered back. He then turned his attention back to Coran. “Now, what’s the latest rebellion news to share?”

“Oh,” Coran said, suddenly seeming a bit nervous, “well, this isn’t…  _Exactly_ rebellion business, you see. I mean, it will most certainly benefit the rebellion, as this is a way to gain additional currency, but a mission or assignment, it isn’t,”

The younger male blinked then scowled slightly. “What?” He deadpanned.

“Well, you see, I’ve made us some connections with high-ranking neutral forces!” He announced happily. He clacked away at his little holo-screen for a moment before pulling up a picture of an alien of some kind. The alien projected before them was reminiscent of some kind of animal, though there were some distinct differences, such as being bipedal. The one in the photo had pale grey fur, a white muzzle, and three large completely black eyes, the center one having a pupil while the other two were missing them. It also had four arm-like appendages and, surprisingly enough, two large and oval-shaped ears. Most of the aliens they had encountered didn’t have anything that seemed to be so easily identified as ears. It was wearing what seemed to be a black and white striped fur boa that draped along their shoulders and back, paired off with a flamingo pink jumpsuit of some sort. The jumpsuit, however, had a large diamond-shaped cut in the belly, revealing pale tan fur along their belly as well.

Even without knowing what race of alien this individual was, they all got the feeling there was something provocative about the exposed midriff.

“Is that some kind of… Lemur-raccoon hybrid or something?” Lance asked with a small scowl.

“More likely a combination of lemur and coati, judging by the shape of the head, the curve of the snout and the color pattern of the pelt,” Hunk chimed in, leaning a bit closer to stare at the hologram better, hands on his knees to help him keep his balance. He glanced up at the strange look he received from his best friend and pushed himself upright. “I may have been in a wildlife club as a kid and we talked about them a couple times. Or do you not recall my stories about how that was what caused me to develop a deep-rooted fear of vampire bats, Lance?”

The other let out a nervous laugh and tugged a bit at the collar of his jacket. “O-Of course I remember, buddy! I’d never forget something like that!”

“His pants are literally on fire right now, aren’t they?” Pidge asked, pausing in her work to ask the question.

“Just some small sparks for now, but I’m sure they’ll be ablaze soon enough,” Allura said with a small grin. Ever since they’d started teaching her some common Earth slang, she’d gotten even better at keeping their jokes running.

Coran cleared his throat to get their attention back on him. “Anyway, this is Retula; the supreme ruler of all the union of the Mulharu galaxy. The Mulharu galaxy is specifically known for being filled with planets with egregious wealth and class, typically being ruled by those they deem most knowledgable in certain areas. The Galra have never actively pursued conquest of the area due to… Well… The planets have quite a bit of wealth, but have nothing else to offer. If they were captured, their means of wealth would be gone, and a decent amount of their denizens are not very good with hard labor tasks,” He explained calmly.

“Strange that the Galra wouldn’t want to seize control of a galaxy overflowing with wealth. How is it they maintain their financial success?” Allura asked curiously.

“Well, they are planets dedicated to different types of fashion and culture, as it were. They produce the latest in music, wardrobe, novels, television dramas and other such goods to be spread across the universe,” He answered, twiddling his moustache with a smile.

“So… It’s basically just Hollywood as a galaxy?” Hunk asked curiously.

“I thought this was going to be a fun one; I want my money back,” Pidge said with a quick laugh.

Keith held up one hand to the others. “If they’re a galaxy of wealth that doesn’t align itself with the Galra, which could be a benefit to us. Coran, if you would continue,” He said, letting his arms cross again once he was done speaking.

The Altean smiled widely and nodded. “It would seem that Lady Retula has become interested in the styles common on Earth and Altea, what with all the positive attention you’ve been receiving lately, and would like to have a meeting. She intends to use your casual clothes as a base for a new fashion line to produce. If all goes well, she has also agreed to use all proceeds from that collection to fund the rebellion and even chip in a little extra of her own; all under the table, of course,” He explained happily.

Allura’s eyes lit up. “Really? Coran, that’s wonderful!” She beamed happily.

“The money would definitely be helpful, if negotiations go well,” Keith agreed.

Lance scoffed and flashed what Keith had learned was his attempt at a smolder at them. “Is there  _any_  doubt we’ll get her help? I mean, you have the image of human perfection in regards to appearance and fashion standing  _right here_ ,” He mused happily, gesturing to himself with a wave of one hand.

“Am I allowed to comment? It might get offensive,” Pidge said evenly, leaning one arm against the back of her chair to smirk at Lance.

“You’re  _absolutely_  allowed to keep it to yourself, Pidge,” Keith said with a tired huff, pinching the bridge of his nose. He could see Lance fluffing up in preparation for an argument and he wasn’t in the mood for it. After having to listen to the two of them snark back and forth all throughout training the day before, his nerves needed a serious break.

Sometimes he wished Shiro would come back just so he didn’t have to deal with the headache of being leader.

Pidge wrinkled her nose a bit at his response before looking back over at Coran. “So, how many days until we have our meeting with this Retula?”

“Well, once I got in contact with her, she insisted on streamlining the process and coming by immediately so… She should be here in about half a varga at this point?” He said, glancing at his holo-screen to clarify.

“ _What_? Coran, you should have said something  _sooner_!” Lance snapped before darting off, aiming to get himself a bit more presentable for the meeting.

Allura tutted herself quietly, grabbing Coran’s arm and tugging him along with her. “We don’t have much time to find some outfits to present her with then! You can help me pick out which ones would be the best to show her!” She insisted excitedly.

Keith glanced at Pidge briefly. “You’re not going to come out, are you?”

“I’m not big on the whole fashion thing. I mean, to me, fashionable is comfortable, which tends to be the opposite of what these designer types aim for. Usually they’re all about big, sweeping ball gowns or super tight an impractical stuff. I prefer jeans and skater skirts and just plain dresses, you know? Though you’ll have to let me know just how far she ends up mutilating stuff like basic T-shirts and jeans and stuff,” She said with a wave of one hand before adjusting herself in her seat and getting back to work on her project.

“I at least want you to come out and introduce yourself. She’s coming out here to meet the whole team, so that includes you,” He said calmly. She made a sound of assertion that she heard him but nothing else.

Hunk and Keith exchanged glances before Hunk indicated the door with a jerk of his thumb. “Wanna help me make some snacks?”

“Sure,” Keith said, following the other male out of the hanger.

Lance joined them once he was finished putting himself together – which was just slicking his hair back and running an extra session on his skin care treatment, evidently – and Allura was not too far after that. Coran wasn’t with her, as he had left to greet Retula upon her arrival. Hunk was just starting to slice into the almost-brownies he and Keith had made when the doors to the kitchen slid open, Coran standing in the doorway with a tight smile on his lips and another member of Retula’s race, only they had a dark brown belt and only one set of arms, standing with a small girth between them and Coran. It was clear just be a quick glance that the other alien was much bulkier and intimidating, what with how their dark eyes remained pinned on Coran with a harsh expression and the various pouches on their belt that housed who-knew-what.

But there was no Retula.

“ _Corie_ ,  _darling_ ,  _baby_ ,” A soprano-pitched voice cooed, sounding an odd mix of endeared and exhausted, “I hear what you are saying to me. I’m a good listening, it’s something I have to go, I am hearing you. I am hearing him, aren’t I, Ferur?” There was a soft click of what sounded like nails tapping against the tile and the voice came closer.

“Indeed you are, Lady Retula,” The guard, Ferur, answered as he slid into the kitchen as well. When he got closer to the table, he leaned down to the ground, plucked something off the ground, and then set it on the tabletop calmly.

There, standing no taller than a house cat if it were bi-pedal, was Lady Retula.

She huffed a bit and reached up, using her upper set of little paws to fluff up her fur boa a bit more, the second set resting on her hips. Seeing her up close and personal, they all realized that it wasn’t a boa, but actually  _her own tail_  she was treating like an accessory. She wasn’t wearing the suit from the picture, but instead a neon yellow dress that hugged at the small curves of her form. It was sleeveless, revealing that her fur went down to about the midway point on all four of her triceps, where it then seemed to become dark flesh instead. “I appreciate your input, Corie,  _really_  I do. But the best way for me to handle something such as this it for me to investigate myself,” She said before turning to face the four Paladins gawking at her. She blinked a bit in surprise, each of her eyes shifting from Paladin to Paladin, before a bright smile turned up on her face, revealing a set of pointed teeth. “Delightful to find…  _Most_  of you, it would seem.”

Keith opened his mouth to speak before Lance swooped in ahead of him, bowing and offering one hand to the female. “It is a great honor to meet you, Lady Retula,” He said, tossing in a wink for added flair.

Lady Retula blinked a bit before humming quietly, her center eye shifting over Lance and seeming to size him up. “You are the Paladin of Ruby Hues, are you not?” She asked, reaching out to set her lower set of paw-like hands on his hand and leaning closer into his personal space. Her little snout was mere centimeters from his nose, one of her other hands reaching out to lightly toy with a loose strand of hair dangling in front of his forehead. “Interesting pelt pattern you have here… Though I do worry that your coloration may not match quite right with your assigned color scheme.” She took a few steps away from him before clapping two of her little paws together. “Ferur, make a note of this for me!” She announced before walking past Lance to Allura beside him.

“Of course, Lady Retula,” Ferur said, rummaging through one of his pouches to pull out a small sketch pad and strange pen. He clicked a small orb at the top before starting to scribble something out, then clicked it again to add another note.

“I take it that Ferur is your personal assistant, then?” Allura asked, trying to remain polite as Lady Retula reached out and begin running her little claws through her long silver locks.

“Personal assistant, bodyguard, fine piece of ass to tap when I feel the itch… Pick whichever label you should prefer,” She tsked lightly, her little nose scrunching up a bit as she continued to play with the long tresses. “Your hair will be a nightmare to style, you know. Long hair itself can be a taxing effort, but I’ve heard that Altean hair is delicate and can be especially temperamental.”

The princess’ brow furrowed at that. “Really? The mice have never had any problem styling my hair for me in the past,” She commented.

Retula’s tail fluffed up and Ferur looked up, his own snout wrinkling up in distaste. “ _Mice_? Letting  _mice_  style your hair? Oh, Paladin of Sapphire Hues,  _we_  will  _need_  to give you the full treatment to show you why to never do something like that again!” She fretted, reaching up with her paws to try and smooth her tail fur back down, before turning and trotting across the table to approach Keith next.

“The mice do a  _fine_  job,” Allura grumbled quietly, glaring at the back of Retula’s head. Lance placed a hand on her shoulder and flashed her a reassuring smile.

Retula let out a small tut as she looked Keith over. “Well, this is just a shame. You’re the Paladin of Onyx Hues but you lack anything particularly eye-catching… And to think you’re going to be the centerpiece of this whole thing,” She lamented lightly, her tail brushing against Keith’s cheek.

He scowled a bit. He wanted to retort with something quick and snarky, but knew better. He instead wedged his tongue between his back molars. “I’m sure you’ll be able to do something with him. Keith can be quite agreeable, you see,” Coran chimed in with a nervous laugh, flashing the younger male a sympathetic smile.

Retula looked between them skeptically, pausing to glance back at Lance when he released a sharp bark of laughter. “I should hope so… If they intend to be flaunting styles designed by myself, they will be expected to do as I need them to,” She huffed, casting Keith one last unimpressed frown before turning her attention to Hunk.

She looked him up and down, her tail slowly curling back around her shoulders and seeming to relax a bit again. He still had the pan of brownies in front of him and a meek smile turned up on his lips. “Uh, hello, Lady Retula. Would you like a brownie?” He asked, offer one to her.

She let out a contemplative noise before taking the offered treat. “You are the Paladin of Topaz Hues, yes? It would seem you’re the only one of your team with any kind of raw, unbridled sex appeal,” She praised. Hunk blinked a bit in surprise before flashing a bashful smile, cutting out another square and offering it to Ferur. Ferur looked from the offered item back to Retula, only taking the item upon receiving a nod as she took a bite from her own. All three of her eyes lit up and she let out a strange sound that reminded Keith of marbles in a garbage disposal. “Oh, now  _you_  are a package deal, Paladin of Topaz Hues! How are you with younglings?” She asked happily.

“Younglings?” He parroted, cocking his head curiously.

“Yes! If you’re good with younglings, then you’d be a triple threat!” She giggled happily before taking another bite.

There was a quiet swoosh behind them and all eyes swiveled to watch as Pidge, coated in oil and other filth, walked in calmly. “Oh, hey. Sorry I’m late, Keith; I would say I lost track of time but that would be a lie,” She said, flashing them a playful salute before heading over to the fridge.

Retula watched the young Paladin’s every move with her third eye, licking a few crumbles from her muzzle. “You must be the Paladin of Jade Hues,” She said calmly, waving one little paw at Ferur. He reached over with his free paw, licking the remnants of his own brownie from the digits of the other. Retula walked to the edge of the table, peering around as Pidge shut the door and poked the straw through the juice pouch she’d grabbed. “Well, I suppose two out of five isn’t bad.”

Pidge turned and quirked an eyebrow at her. “Excuse me?”

“Two of you will appeal to the culture from which we hail, meaning that getting some traction going for this collection won’t be completely impossible,” She said with a casual laugh.

Keith blinked then looked between Hunk and Pidge, then back at Retula and Ferur. Ah, that made sense. Of course petite females and bulkier males would be more appealing to their race. Pidge stared at her for a moment before snickering a bit. “So even you have your doubts about how well this whole thing will work?” She asked.

Retula tilted her head up and let out a haughty little laugh. “Oh, I have no doubt in my ability to create great fashion! But a design can only carry itself so far without appealing models to pull the look together, you see,” She explained, her lower set of paws settled on her hips while the one of the upper set was pointed at Pidge and the other stroked her tail. She turned to face the others, smug grin still in place. “Now that all of the introductions have been done, shall we get to work? I should like to see a variety of your respective cultures ideas of fashion so that I may begin the brainstorming process.” She said before motioning Ferur over to herself.

Lance smirked as he stood up. “Absolutely! Come on, Pidge, you can help me!”

The other blinked then scowled. “Why do I have to help you?”

“Because you’re the one with the computer that still manages to pull up Earth websites! And you need to get washed up and changed, anyway, so just set me up so I can pull up what I need!” He insisted.

She tilted her head back and let out a loud, drawn out moan. “Pidge,  _please_  play nice,” Keith chimed in calmly.

“Fine, but only because the boss said so,” She huffed lightly before heading towards the other door that led to the hallway of their rooms.

“I’ll take what I can get!” Lance laughed before darting after her.

Allura rose and glanced over at Hunk. “Hunk, would you mind helping me with bringing out the samples of some Altean attire?” She mused.

“Sure thing, Allura,” He said, swiping two more brownies and offering one to her as they exited. Keith rose, intending to follow and see where he could help the others, before a thought occurred to him.

He turned his attention back to Lady Retula, whom was now sitting on the edge of the table with one leg crossed over the other. Ferur handed over the tablet and stylus he’d been holding over to her. “Well, Corie, I must say that I am confident in regards to this whole deal. I think that we’ll be able to make quite a pretty penny to help with your rebellion expenses,” She mused lightly. She began drawing about on the tablet, switching between colors, on a small program that had white space beside small headshots of each Paladin. She was starting to get a slew of colors ready to work with. One of her ears twitched and she waved one paw at him. “May I be of service to you, Paladin of Onyx Hues?”

“Actually, yes,” He said before stepping a little bit closer. She paused in her work and lifted her gaze to meet his. “Would you be willing to do a special commissioned outfit?”

She blinked then cocked her head. “I suppose I could do such a thing for the Leader of Voltron,” She mused lightly, tapping her little nose curiously.

“Oh, it isn’t for me. It’s actually for Pidge… Er, I mean, the Paladin of Jade Hues,” He said, realizing quickly that she probably wasn’t familiar with their actual names. He pulled the seat Hunk had abandoned over and sat beside her. “You see, she isn’t big on fashion, but I think that she’d really appreciate this.”

Retula closed her eyes, tilting her head from side to side as she thought, then opened her eyes and nodded. “Well then, I am at least willing to hear you out,” She said, keeping her grasp on the tablet with her lower paws.

…………………………………………………………………………………

Pidge groaned as they were finally released from the photo set that day. They’d been woken up extremely early, been redressed and restyled so many times she had lost count, and had so many photos taken it was absolutely ridiculous. She was tired, she was hungry, and her face felt like it had been rubbed raw with how many times her make-up had been wiped off to have a new coloration applied to pair with the next outfit. The others had already started making their way back to the dressing rooms to be helped out of their outfits and get cleaned up. Keith was standing off to the side, waiting for her, with Ferur holding Lady Retula up on one arm. There was a white box of some kind in Ferur’s other hand.

A brief sense of dread surged through her at Lady Retula being right there but she headed over anyway. “I take it your satisfied with how everything turned out?” She asked.

Retula flashed a smile and nodded. “Indeed. I was just informing the Paladin of Onyx Hues that all the photos are looking great. As an additional show of our gratitude to your willingness to work with us, we shall be sending all of you Paladins home with the outfits you wore today. Corie mentioned that none of you had a particularly large wardrobe and I was simply uncomfortable with the idea of letting that continue on,” She explained, her tail loosening from around her shoulders. Her tail stretched out and lightly brushed Ferur’s wrist, causing him to lift his arm and offer the box to Pidge. “Although this… Well, keep this between us, would you? I don’t want the other Paladin’s feeling left out.”

She blinked before cautiously taking the offered box. It reminded her of the kinds of boxes she usually received clothes in back on Christmas or her birthday, which she supposed made sense. Retula was a fashion designer, after all. “What is it?” She asked while starting to pop open the top.

“Well, this was a gift from the Paladin of Onyx Hues more than myself. I simply made it; he was the one who came up with the idea and assisted me in assuring the design,” She mused, looking now at the nails of one of her little paws.

The top of the box fell to the ground as she pulled out the item inside, the fabric feeling so similar to cotton it shocked her. “It’s… It’s my dress,” She mumbled, holding the purple and white dress up by the shoulders. Everything about it looked the same as she remembered; the short sleeves, the cut of the white portion along the center, even the light purple tinting was spot on. She slowly pulled it towards herself, hugging it tight, and looked over at Keith with wide eyes.

He rubbed at the back of his neck meekly, averting his gaze. “I hope you don’t mind… I just figured that you’d like to have something other than just your sweater and shorts to wear. I mean, you have your Paladin robe and armor, but those aren’t readlly good for when you’re just sitting around the Castle or some-!” He was cut off when she threw herself at him, dress still tight in her grasp, and embraced him.

“Thank you so much! I love it!” She gushed, her voice catching a bit as she tried to withhold tears. He blinked then smiled and wrapped his arms around her, giving a light, reassuring squeeze.

Lady Retula hummed and leaned back against Ferur, motioning he tilt his head down. “Human mating habits are quite endearing, don’t you think?” She whispered, trying to avoid being overheard.

He hummed in agreement and gently nudged his muzzle against the side of her head. “Indeed, Lady Retula,”


	30. Mule Theory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kidge Week Day 3 Prompt Fill. A bit of a stretch but I think this works. While I personally don’t ascribe to the belief presented here with the fiction I read/write, I decided to implement it here, just out of interest.

The subject was breeched as they were preparing to leave the Blade base after stopping in so Keith could request an extended leave from active Blade duties.

“Is it your wedding anniversary already?” Adwru asked, seeming perplexed, as Keith and Pidge cut through the small cafeteria area.

“Yup, been a whole year now,” Keith said with a small smile at humming woman beside him.

“Have to give you credit; I wasn’t sure you were going to be able to handle me a full year,” She teased, lightly bopping his hip with hers.

Nihaar, whom had stopped in to return her luxite blade and give her official notice of leaving the Blade, grinned impishly from her perch hovering behind Adwru. Apparently she’d wanted to get one last nuisance session in before she returned to take over as the Deligate of Peace on her home world. “Got any fun plans on how to spend the time?” She asked happily.

“Well, we were planning on spending a week at a resort plan, just relaxing and spending time away from both teams,” He said calmly.

“That… Seems like a strange reason to take a huge amount of time off. I thought Earth weeks only consisted of seven Earth days?” Adwru asked, poking his head away from the files he’d been going through and finally looking at Keith.

The other blushed a bit and cleared his throat, averting his gaze. Pidge, however, flashed them a smug grin. “Don’t go spreading this around or anything, but… Part of the reason he’s taking the time is because we’re going to start trying for a baby,” She announced.

“So I’m taking the time in anticipation for us to conceive and then, from there, we’ll determine how to proceed once she’s actually pregnant,” He explained, a shy smile on his lips as he glanced down at her. The idea of finally starting his own family was an exciting one, to say the least. He had always known he wanted to have a family some day; it was just a matter of timing and finding someone he felt comfortable committing to. Thankfully, through the help of space tyrants and mechanical cats, he’d found that special someone in Pidge, and with the war finally over and peace beginning to spread like the parted clouds of a storm, the idea of having children felt safe.

Nihaar and Adwru exchanged glances, one pained and the other apprehensive, before looking back at him sadly. “Nobody told you about what it means to be a half-Galra, did they, Keith?” Adwru asked uneasily.

He cocked his head a bit. “Uh, that I have Galra heritage? Meaning I can activate my luxite blades change and long-time exposure to quintessence can cause me to take on more Galran features?” He asked skeptically.

Nihaar opened her mouth to say something, then shut it and sighed, her ears drooping. “Yes, but… Being half-Galra… It also means there’s a high chance of you being sterile,”

He breathed in harsh and rough. “ _What_?” He choked.

“It’s sadly a medical causation of being half of one species and half of another. I mean, there’s a roughly 14 percent chance that you aren’t  _completely_  impotent, but… Well, obviously, those are  _really_ improbable odds,” Adwru explained, fiddling with one of the packet of notes he’d been looking over, either due to indifference or an attempt to distract himself.

“Similar to a mule?” Pidge asked in surprise.

Nihaar shrugged, unfamiliar with the animal in question. “If a mule is something born between two creatures of somewhat similar genetic codes with complications in regards to conceiving naturally, then I guess,”

“It’s more likely that it’s impossible for any of us halflings to conceive. It’s one reason that the Zarkon-controlled Galra didn’t want Lotor to become the new ruler. He’s only half Galra himself so the likelihood of him producing a viable heir to the throne is basically nothing. And then the blood bath for control will take over all over again,” Adwru said evenly.

Violet eyes shifted between his friends frantically. “Why…  _Why_  wasn’t this ever mentioned to me before?” He asked, his voice coming out as a shaky wheeze. He could feel Pidge shifting to wrap one arm around his waist and try to keep him grounded, but it did nothing to soothe him.

Nihaar’s claws extended and retracted frantically, a nervous tick of hers. “Most Blade members don’t live that long. And the ones that do live to older age tend to be more dedicated to the cause than having kits,” She said.

“And the ones that do have kits, especially the Galra that aren’t full Galra themselves,” Adwru said, flashing a sympathetic glance at her before looking back over at the two humans, “tend to distance themselves and have little involvement with their kits. Krolia staying with you and your father for as long as she did, and leaving her blade with him to give you… Those are exceptions to the norm around this place.”

He stared at them for a moment before his gaze shifted to the flooring of the room, eyes coming in and out of focus on the metal flooring. He vaguely heard all three of them calling out to him, their voices blurring and swirling in various states of concerned and frantic, but he couldn’t bring it in him to focus on a single one of them. He could feel his body sway and shift, legs nearly giving out under him, but he didn’t register it. His mind just keep replaying:  _Impotent. Sterile. Improbable. Impossible._

“Nihaar, help me out here!” Pidge barked, keeping a tight grasp on Keith as he teetered in her arms. The other darted over, pushing one of the spare chairs over and behind him. They carefully got him settled but still he seemed completely lost to them.

_Impotent. Sterile. Improbable. Impossible._

“We’ll give you two some privacy,” Nihaar said quietly, her tail brushing at Pidge’s shoulders gently. It was a show of affection and reassurance among her people.

“But I was here first,” Adwru groused quietly.

She pinned him with a glare, orange eyes flashing. “You can work just as well in your office or your quarters, you big whiner!” She hissed quietly, swiping up his documents and heading towards the other exit. He let out a discontented grumble before following after her.

Pidge watched them go, turning back to her husband at the quiet, muffled sob that choked him. “Keith,” She said softly, reaching out and cupping either side of his face.

“I can’t-! We… We can never have-!” He hiccupped, screwing his eyes shut as tears started to fall full force.

Her hands shifted from his cheeks, one draping over his shoulders and gently guide him to her, pressing his face against her stomach, while the other stroked his hair. “They didn’t say never; just said that it would be difficult,” She said softly.

He pressed closer into her and let out another quiet sob. “But Adwru said-!”

“He said there’s still a 14 percent chance, that us conceiving would be  _improbable_ , but that doesn’t mean impossible. Not statistically or in all actuality,” She corrected lightly. She waited a few beats, letting her fingers rake through his hair and hearing his sobs start to slow just the slightest bit.

“You don’t have to stay with me, if you don’t want to,” He mumbled quietly.

“You’re not getting rid of me that easily, Kogane. Deal with it,” She said.

He took another shuddering breath. “I’m serious. Having kids is something you’ve always wanted too, and I don’t want to hold you back from that,”

“I want to have kids  _with you_. I want to have a family  _with you_. I don’t want to do all that nonsense if it’s  _not with you_ ,” She said, speaking with a stricter tone that probably necessary. Then again, considering who she was dealing with, sometimes it was the only way to get it through his thick skull. “It’ll take a lot of time and a lot of work on our part, but there’s  _still_  a chance. And, besides, did you forget who we are? We’ve faced up against impossible odds before and still been successful. Something like this? This is a small setback that’ll make things a bit harder for us. But we’ll face it together and we’ll overcome it together. I guarantee that we will have a baby, Keith.”

He took a shuddering breath and his arms tightened around her. “I love you,” He breathed out, his words choppy between hiccups.

“I love you too,” She said softly, her voice warm with sincerity.

………………………………………………………

She fought back a shudder as she shoved open the door, arms weighed down by the plastic bags looped around them. It was her own fault that she’d had to go out in near-freezing temperatures to pick up the things they would need for the party that night, but that didn’t make her any less frustrated about the whole ordeal. “I don’t understand why all these idiots have to be out when I’m running errands,” She mumbled to herself, stamping the last bits of snow off her boots and on to the mat by the door. She could hear the quiet sounds of the television in the other room, meaning Keith was still out there. “Mind giving me a hand, babe?” She called out, walking from the small entry way to the doorway of the living room.

She blinked, falling silent and an affectionate smile turning her lips up.

She quickly ducked into the kitchen and put away the groceries, being as quiet and as careful as possible. She then returned to the closet in the entry way and put away her coat, mittens, hat and scarf, fishing her phone from the pocket of pants as she headed back to the living room. She made sure to turn off the sound before clicking a few quick snapshots.

Stretched out on the couch, both completely passed out, were Keith and their near-three month old daughter, Amber Rose Kogane.

It had taken them two and a half years of steady trying, multiple breakdowns and heartaches, but they’d finally succeeded in their tries to get pregnant. She still remembered when she had told Keith, walking out of the restroom and indicating the markers on the little test strip. The look of awe on his face had been priceless, and his excited garbled sobs afterwards had been all the vindication either of them had needed.

She grinned and leaned a bit closer, lightly poking his nose. “Hey there, sleepy boots. I need you to get up and come help me,” She mused softly.

His brow scrunched up slightly and he shifted away from her, keeping his arm securely wrapped around Amber. “Five more minutes,” He puffed out quietly.

“No, not five more minutes. You’ve had plenty of time to nap and that little miss is probably due for a diaper change,” She hummed, watching Amber start to shift around as well.

He groaned again, a small whine of response coming from the small infant on his chest, and he cracked one eye at her. “Do you hear that? She’s on my side,” He mused.

“She’s too little to have a say since she’s too little to let us know when she needs her diapers changed,” She pointed out. He huffed again but slowly shifted to stand, keeping Amber cradled against him, and looked up at her with a small pout once he was upright. “Sorry, but the others are going to be here soon and we need to start getting things together. Plus, I want to put Amber in that cute little dress Mom got her.” She reached over to take their baby, the little dear rubbing at her face with tiny fists.

“You mean the black and green one?” He asked as he helped to carefully hand Amber over. Once she was in Pidge’s arms, she just flopping her head against her shoulder and let out a loud, squeak of a yawn. “Oh, what a tired little girl you are. Mommy’s so mean for waking us up, isn’t she?” He cooed teasingly.

“She’ll thank me for this later. I can already feel that her diaper is sagging,” She mused.

“Do you think we have time to give her a bath before anyone shows up?” He asked, glancing up at her briefly before looking back down and offering one of his fingers to Amber. A tiny hand plopped on his finger, cooing soft and curiously, as she patted up and down along the digit.

Pidge smiled and pressed a small kiss to the top of her head. “Well, everyone’s supposed to get here in about thirty minutes, I think. But Mom and Dad are always fifteen minutes early, so if we tag-team it I think sneaking in a bath will be doable,” She said.

“I’ll go get the bath ready, then,” He said, pausing to give each of his girls a quick peck. Pidge beamed at him and Amber made a quiet squealing noise, still trying to figure out how exactly to laugh when she was happy. He flashed them an affectionate look before heading off to get started, Pidge following a few steps behind to go to Amber’s room and get her ready for the bath.

The universe had stacked the odds against them and, as they were known to do, they’d proudly waved their middle fingers back. And then, they got what they wanted.


	31. Prom Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kidge Week 2018 Day 4 Prompt Fill. Warning for some dirty dancing, but nothing too explicit. Hanging out at alien clubs can always be a blast, even when you aren’t familiar with the types of music. It can be even better with your favorite dance partner close by. Inspired by the song of the same name by Anamanaguchi featuring Bianca Raquel.

The club had been Lance’s idea, naturally. The guy was always looking for other ways to unwind between battles and coalition meetings and such. And, seeing as Keith had a little down time as well, he had sent him a message inquiring to his interest. Initially, he hadn’t been. He figured he’d shower, change and then just lounge around his room for a bit, or maybe go to the library and read up a bit on old Galran legends and myths. It was incredibly interesting to learn more about the maternal side of his family tree.

But then Lance had sent him a selfie with Pidge, Hunk and Allura in the background. He sent back a message asking for the coordinates.

The club was thrumming with loud music and was dark, with just something akin to black lights illuminating the place. It caught on the bright clothes and body paint covering the bodies moving on the dance floor. Even with all those people, from his perch at the bar he could see her, swaying in time to the beat, eyes closed and a small smile on her lips.

It was so strange to see her completely relaxed, letting her body move this way and that, completely uninhibited. The light caught the bright green of her tank top in such a way that it seemed almost like a beacon, calling to him from his spot at the bar. There was a shimmering orange body paint covering most of her exposed skin, with little swirls and lines and patterns decorating her arms and shoulders and belly and legs. As her body twisted and twirled, he could also see the paintings between her shoulder and along her lower back.

The track changed to something that sounded a bit more Earth-like in beats and ton. It reminded him a bit of the video game soundtracks Pidge liked to occasionally put on while she was working in the hanger. She perked up, her eyes shining like diamonds in the sunlight at the familiarity in the sound. With one last swig to chug down the rest of his drink, he headed out to the dance floor to join her.

There were eyes on them as they met, his hands finding slim hips and pulling her back towards him. She perked up, turning as if to yell and her hands resting atop his, then smiled coyly when she realized that it was him. She leaned back into him, swaying her hips from side to side with the song. He let out a quiet rumble and imitated her movements, giving her hips a little squeeze.

She tilted her head back, one of her hands sliding up to tangle in his hair and give a small tug. He pressed forward, rocking his hips up against her and pressing his mouth to hers. He couldn’t hear the purr she released but he felt it, her whole body back into him to add to the friction. She tilted her head back a bit more and nipped at his lower lip teasingly. He hummed and pressed his tongue into her mouth eagerly, growling when hers prodded against his teasingly.

The hand in his hair stayed rooted there, but the other still resting atop his gripping his lightly and shifted it to slide along her stomach. He took initiative, letting his fingers ghost along her stomach and reveling in the shudder he felt course through her. He dipped his head down as he pulled away from this kiss, grazing his teeth over her pulse before settling in to suckle a dark mark on her throat.

She titled her head back and tightened her grip in his hair, mouth parting in a gasp that was well-hidden by the music. He pressed a small kiss to the hinge of her jaw before breathing against her ear. “We could probably get a quickie in if we can find a private place,” He murmured.

She smirked and suddenly flipped around so that she was facing him. He blinked then smirked back as she shifted before arching her body flush up against his. He looped one arm around her waist and leaned down to kiss her again. “Why should we do that? We could fuck right here and they’d all just assume we were dancing,” She mumbled against his.

“Oh, you’re feeling frisky… I like it,” He mused, his hand on her hip shifting to grope at her ass and pull her closer to him. He laughed at the small yelp she gave him while his leg shifted between hers.

She huffed then smirked at her before rolling her hips down roughly, grinding against his thigh unabashedly. “I aim to please,” She mused as a new song, one that feel into the same vein as the previous one started up. Keith silently uttered a prayer as he rocked his leg up, grinding up as she ground down and getting a low moan from her, that the DJ would keep up this trend.

There was something hot about grinding against one another under the pretense of dancing at an alien club.


	32. Friendly Competition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kidge Week 2018 Day 5 Prompt Fill. Canon Divergent. Part of having a team composed of teens between the ages of 17 and 19 is that, occasionally, getting them to focus on training requires a little bit of ingenuity. Thankfully enough, Shiro has that in spades. Only problem? His habit of forgetting just how competitive some of his teammates can get.

“So we’re doing…  _What_ , exactly?” Lance asked skeptically as Coran offered him a large white and orange gun.

Shiro smiled at them. “It’s just a little team building exercise. The concept is similar to a mix of a paintball battle and capture the flag, in a way,” He explained. Allura stood off to the side, watching with a curious gleam in her eyes. He had only asked Allura and Coran to help him with getting everything set up and planned out, but for the most part left them in the dark. “You’ll be teamed up as such; Lance and Hunk, Keith and Pidge. You’ll be squaring off with against one another to capture the special item we’ve hidden in the wilderness of this planet. The suits you’ve been given are similar to your Paladin armor, but they’ll give you a mild shock each time you get shot, keep track of how many times you get shot, and also has an automatic tracer so that you can locate the statue and your teammate. It has a rough map of the landscape, but ultimately it’s just a rough scaling to help keep you away from any specifically dangerous spots as well as keep you within the perimeter that we’ve designated for this exercise,” He explained.

“What’s the item we’re supposed to be collecting?” Keith asked as he clasped his arm guards into place.

“It’s a small statute of a Winfulure, the national bird of Altean,” Coran announced happily.

“And that looks like…?” Hunk trailed uneasily.

“I’ve seen it before in my Altean lessons, so we’ve got that covered,” Pidge whispered to Keith.

Lance pointed at them accusingly. “Hey, that’s not fair! Pidge already knows what the statute looks like and that gives them an edge!” He protested.

“There’s a tracking device on it! You’ll be able to find it just fine!” She scoffed, rolling her eyes and setting one hand on her hip.

“Besides, we’re all using guns and you and Hunk are the two with the most experience with using those. So you guys have an edge over us in regards to the combat aspect of this whole exercise,” Keith retorted. Lance blinked a bit then grinned widely, suddenly becoming smug again.

“Anyway,” Shiro said to get the attention back on himself, “this is to work on not only your abilities to work well with your companion limb, but also to work well in a ground-combat situation. More specifically, a ground-combat situation where the terrain is unfamiliar and the circumstances may not be ideal. Almost all of our ground-strikes have been well-planned and enacted by us so this’ll give us more experience in the reverse. As such, be careful and keep your eyes open.”

Allura smiled and stepped forward. “Additionally, Coran and I spoke with the natives of this planet about keeping their denizens outside of the small containment field we have designed. It should also keep any additional threats from the environment itself from attacking you, but if not, the armor will guard you from that, too,” She said happily.

“Additional threats? You mean, like, wild animals?” Hunk squeaked out.

“There shouldn’t be any, but yes, just in case,” Coran agreed happily.

“Oh, don’t worry. We won’t be out there long, buddy,” Lance said, clapping his friend on the back reassuringly.

Pidge glanced over, fingers still adjusting the visor of her helmet. “What’s that supposed to mean?” She asked.

“Oh, nothing… Just that we’re going to kick your sorry tails all around that jungle!” He boasted.

“Is that slang for losing like a sad sack or something?” Keith asked with a raised eyebrow. Pidge laughed and the two exchanged hi-fives.

“Hunk and I are the best shots in the universe! The idea that the two of you can get the jump on us is ridiculous!” He beamed.

“Did you forget who  _you’re_  up against?” Keith asked evenly, leaning over to rest one arm on one of Pidge’s shoulders. He then indicated her with a quick jerk of his thumb. “Pidge is literally a prodigy. The girl can deconstruct and reconstruct alien tech like a kid playing with Legos.”

“And this guy here is the king of stealth and evasion! Even if we’re in an environment that we’re unfamiliar with, he’ll be able to find a way around it! You’ll get taken out before you even realize where he’s at!” She laughed.

“You wanna make a bet about this?” Lance pushed.

“Lance, dude,  _no_ ,” Hunk whined quietly. The last thing that he needed was to get roped into some ridiculous shenanigans with his best friend. He could compile an entire laundry list of every instance where he’d been forced to face some asinine punishment or lecture because he got suckered into suffering along with Lance after his plans blew up in his face.

“You  _really_  wanna subject poor Hunk to something more than just an embarrassing defeat? How cruel,” Pidge goaded.

“It won’t be! You’re the two who are going to be embarrassed in the face of defeat! Losers have to clean the whole castle, top to bottom!” He said, shoving his hand out towards her.

She smirked and clasped his hand, shaking heartily. “You’re on!” She beamed.

Keith flashed a sympathetic smile at Hunk, the other man groaning quietly and rubbing his hands over his face.

Shiro watched them all hustle off towards the exit of the castle ship to begin the exercise. “It seems you were right, Shiro! This seems to be something that’ll really help them all!” Coran beamed.

“And also get you some time off from cleaning to relax?” SHiro asked, a sly grin on his face and a raise of his eyebrow.

Coran smirked, lightly twirling the ends of his moustache. “Well, I’m certainly not going to complain about that!” He laughed.


	33. Shades and Hues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kidge Week 2018 Day Six Prompt Fill. Soulmate AU where you can only see the color that is most significant to your soul mate until you realize you’re in love with them.

It was between the ages of five and seven that children gained the ability to see in at least one color that was most important towards their inevitable soul mate. For Katie, it was on a Saturday morning when she was six, as she rolled out of bed to go watch cartoons with Matt in the living room. She had only been paying half a mind to the world around her, still half-awake from staying up too late playing video games, as she walked down the stairs and headed towards the kitchen. She poured herself a bowl of cereal, headed towards the living room, plopped down on the couch next to an equally groggy Matt, and shoved the first bite into her mouth. It was when she glanced down for her next bite that she realized that the Fruit Loops didn’t look quite the same. She slowly cocked her head at the non-grey loop floating in the milk.

She then let out a loud, excited shriek as the realization dawned on her. Matt, startled, ended up sending his own bowl of Cap’n Crunch toppling over on to the floor while Colleen and Samuel both came running out.

“It’s the color purple,” Colleen said happily, smoothing back Pidge’s hair.

She looked up at her curiously then cocked her head, looking at the little loops that showed up in color as opposed to variants of gray. She liked it, being able to see it. “What do you think it’ll mean?” She asked, lifting her head to look up.

“Something amazing, I’m sure,” Samuel chimed in, helping Matt clean the mess of milk and soggy cereal out of the carpet. He leaned back a bit and grinned up at her. “That’s the beauty of it, Katie. Why that color is so significant… It’ll mean the world to you, once you find out why.”

“Oh yeah?” She asked.

“Yes. It’s a sign of how close the two of you have become… Whatever reason has caused that color to be important to them, it’ll be revealed to you once you two have reached a certain level of trust and comfort, when the two of you grow to understand one another on a deeper level. After all, they themselves won’t be able to tell what color it is, so it’ll be up to you to determine the why of the color. It’ll be a big moment, to say the least,” He said, turning a quick glance towards Colleen. His wife blushed and smiled shyly at him.

“I take it you’re speaking from personal experience?” Matt teased.

Samuel smiled back at his son. “Maybe I am. I’ll tell you more about it once you get older,” He said lightly.

Matt let out a small whine of disappointment but didn’t argue with their dad to say anything more. “Your dad’s right, though. It’ll be a moment that you’ll never forget, and then once you realize you’re in love with them and everything comes into focus for you… Oh, darling, you’ll never know a greater feeling than that,” Colleen chimed in happily.

“So seeing in color is really that great?” Katie asked, cocking her head curiously. The idea of seeing in color always appealed to her, calling to her on a deep level. The idea of being able to take in all the small details of life and the things around her always sent a thrill through her.

Colleen chuckled and shook her head. “Seeing in color is nice, Katie, but it’s the sense of belonging… The realization that this is someone who will be there for you, who trusts you with the deepest and most private factors of themselves… That is worth more than being able to see all the colors,” She mused, cupping her daughter’s face and pressing a small kiss to her forehead.

She looked up at her mother, at the happiness in her eyes and the giddy smile on her face, and felt a smile of her own turn up on her lips. She let her curiosity of what exactly was the reasoning behind the color she saw slide off to the side to simply bask in the joy of having a small spark of color in her life. After breakfast, she went to get dressed for the day. She paused after combing her hair, noticing a few little clips with stars on them at the bottom of her drawer. She could see them, practically glowing with their light purple color and one small stone of some sort in center. Her parents had told her that the stone in the middle was actually white anyway, so it being colorless made sense.

She picked the clips up and snapped them in, using them to keep her bangs out of her eyes. She grinned widely at her reflection before scampering off to ride down to the park with Matt.

……………………………………………………………………………..

The thing about traveling through space, as she realized, was that there weren’t a lot of color to things.

She supposed that it didn’t really make much of a difference for her, all things considered. Coloration in the universe around her was still something she lacked. They told her she was piloting the Green Lion and, despite being unable to actually see the color for herself. Altean tech, as they were told by Coran and Allura, whom didn’t have the issue of colorblindness, was primarily white and blue in color. It showed up to her as white and light gray. Most of the color-coding she did was because she had labeled things on her computer with the help of her parents, using symbols to represent different colors, since she couldn’t see most of them, simply because she figured it’d be easier to pull things up if they were organized and tidy. It was a bit disappointing to her that there was so little in their lives on the Castle Ship that was made of the color she could see.

Galra technology, however, was primarily purple in coloration.

It made her more interested in hijacking their materials and working with them, since it was occasionally nice to be able to see the hue of her functioning devices. It was one of the reasons she ended up pilfering so much Galra tech when they were on assignments. While she was never too bothered by her inability to see other colors, it was an inconvenience from time to time. Not being able to see all the fine details of her Lion, being able to distinguish all the different colors on her clothes without asking someone else, or even just being able to know what exactly the color of her own eyes were things that she had often times lamented but she didn’t realize just how much bad it could be until she was up in space.

She left the hanger one night, hoping to maybe find something else to do than work on programming this or that, and ended up out on the main deck.

She stared out at the black-and-white speckled abyss all around them, fighting back a sigh, then paused when she was another figure in the room. Settled off to the side, sitting with his legs stretched out in front of him, was Keith. She blinked then reached over to lightly tap his shoulder. He jerked up and looked over her, hand twitching towards the small knife he kept handy, then let his shoulders droop a bit. “Oh, Pidge… It’s just you,” He breathed quietly.

“Didn’t mean to startle you,” She said, before shifting and settled down beside him, making sure to keep a comfortable distance between them. She turned her attention back out towards the bland sky before them, where his gaze had been focused before. “Taking in the view?”

He shrugged. “Not really. There isn’t really anything out there that I can actually see, but it’s kinda nice to see all the stars and other worlds and everything,” He mused. He turned his gaze back out at the sky. “There’s not a whole lot that I can see in color out here, which is… weird. Back at the Garrison I could see a lot, and even on my own there were still things I could see.”

“Really? What color did you get?” She asked.

“Yellows that have a kind of goldish tint to them, interestingly enough. I thought that maybe the Garrison would offer some answers, maybe at least give me a hint as to who it was I was looking for,” He admitted. His eyes flickered from star to star, seeming to study them even if he couldn’t completely distinguish them from one another. “I thought that maybe I’d meet someone there, but it just never happened. I’ve never been good at connecting with people so… I guess that it makes sense that I would struggle with finding someone like a soul mate.”

“Doesn’t mean that you won’t find them, though. I mean, you can be a little tough to get along with some times, but you’re a really great guy. Once you get comfortable and are willing to open up a bit, you show that you’re loyal and dedicated and caring. Your soul mate has to be out there and I’m sure they’ll be someone who blends with you really well,” She said, reaching out to settle a hand on his upper arm. He paused to stare at her, eyes wide and coming into startling detail for her. “My parents always said that seeing color is secondary that the sense of belonging and comfort is what really means the most. I believe them when they say that. I think with patience and having an open-mind, you’ll meet that person someday soon.”

He stared then chuckled and smiled, his eyes shining almost as bright as a white light. “Thanks, Pidge,” He said gently.

She flashed him one of her trademark grins and nodded. “Any time, pal,” She mused before turning her attention back towards the sky. She sat and enjoyed the comfortable silence between them, breathing in, before she nudged his leg with her knee. “You have beautiful eyes, by the way.”


	34. Crime and Punishment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kidge Week 2018 Day Seven Prompt Fill. Adwru glanced down at her, eyes slowly narrowing. “If I had more information to offer you, I guarantee that I would. I’m sorry if you feel you are being lied to; that is more a problem that you will need to deal with yourself. I simply decided to extend my kindness in telling you myself and returning this,” He said softly, moving to offer Pidge an object wrapped in cloth. She took it cautiously and felt her heart wedge itself squarely in to her throat; Keith’s luxite blade.

She’d been finishing up putting together a new hard drive for a new computer planned to be used for solely maintaining the meeting information of the coalition when she heard a knock on the door. She blinked then scowled slightly as she rose up. The kids were upstairs in their rooms, most likely playing video games or watching a movie, and none of them had mentioned inviting over a guest for the evening. And if Keith was returning from his meeting with the Blade, he would have simply let himself in with his key. She opened the door and blinked in surprise at the large, imposing purple figure standing before her. “Adwru… What are you doing on Earth?” She asked in surprise.

Adwru had been a younger Blade member and friend to Keith, whom took over the handle of primary leader when Kolivan chose to step down. His large ears stood upright and his arms were crossed behind his back, the posture an imitation of one she’d seen from his predecessor many a time. “Pidge, I am sorry to have to be here,” He said patiently.

She quirked one eyebrow, settling a hand on her hips. “Oh, I’m well aware how you feel about Earth. If you’re looking for Keith, he isn’t here. He left a couple of days ago to meet with you and some of the other superiors so-!”

“I am well-aware that he isn’t here. That’s part of the reason I am, though,” He cut in, ears twitching slightly. “I am afraid that Keith… He is no longer with us. He agreed to a mission and… His position was compromised. We lost contact and fear he has fallen to our enemies.”

She stared at him for a long moment, turning over what he said, knowing what he meant but not exactly sure how to place it. “What do you mean? He was going in to turn in his resignation from the Blade. How the Hell did he get roped into taking on any more of your bullshit?” She growled lowly.

“He never made any mention of wanting to leave the Blade. I’m afraid you may have misunderstood his intentions in coming to see us. Or, perhaps, he simply chose to accept as this mission was a personal request from myself but… Regardless, I have come to tell you that he will not be returning,” He said, his tone still as patient and detached as ever. Adwru, he wasn’t always like this. She recalled a time where he’d been someone she considered a friend, but in the last few years he’d become more and more aggressive about Keith continuing his work with the Blade. Nothing was more important, in Adwru’s eyes, than keeping up the work of the Blade.

He didn’t care that Keith had a wife and kids to look after. He didn’t care that Keith was happy with his life on Earth. He only cared that Keith was talented and useful to their cause.

“I don’t believe you,” She said, lifting her head to glare at him defiantly. “I don’t buy for a second that he’d decide to risk so much on a big assignment, regardless of you being the one to ask! After what happened last time? Especially after what happened last time he took an assignment from you in specific!”

She still remembered how horrified she’d been when word was sent that he was in critical condition in the Blades medical bay. She had convinced Allura and Lance to take the Castle Ship there, so that they could get him in a pod and heal him up. She had sat beside the pod for the whole three hours that he was inside it and then held him and wept. She’d been so terrified that she was going to lose him that day. After she calmed down, the kids had come in, all of them teary-eyed and terrified and she’d nearly cried again for their sake.

That night, Keith told her that he wanted to leave the Blade.

“I don’t want to ever put you all in a situation like this again,” He mumbled, gently rubbing Aria’s back. Their youngest daughter had been particularly distraught, being the sweet soul that she was, and seemed to think if she let go of Keith he’d disappear. He smiled lightly when the five year old snuggled closer to him, letting out a sleepy mumble, and rested his chin atop her head. “I want to be here for them and I can’t do that continuing up with the Blade.” They’d returned home and he started getting things in order. After two weeks, he was finally ready to come and say his goodbyes.

He’d only been gone for four days.

“I’m simply here to give you the facts about it, Pidge,” Adwru insisted, but the corner of his lips twitched like he wanted to say something more, like he wanted to let down his persona of being a composed leader.

“Which is exactly why you’re hiding the specifics from me, right? You think I’m stupid enough to believe you?” She snapped back.

Adwru glanced down at her, eyes slowly narrowing. “If I had more information to offer you, I guarantee that I would. I’m sorry if you feel you are being lied to; that is more a problem that you will need to deal with yourself. I simply decided to extend my kindness in telling you myself and returning this,” He said softly, moving to offer Pidge an object wrapped in cloth. She took it cautiously and felt her heart wedge itself squarely in to her throat; Keith’s luxite blade.

He would never willingly go anywhere without it.

She took it and stared at it for a moment, one hand tracing the Blade insignia along the handle. She then tightened her hold on it and glared up at Adwru. “I’ll prove that you’re a lying snake. I swear on his blade,” She vowed, holding the knife out towards him much like how she’d seen her husband do so many times.

“Continue to delude yourself and pretend the truth is a lie. I will not continue wasting my time on you and your overreacting, puny imagination,” He scoffed before turning and heading towards his ship, poised at the end of the driveway.

She growled and slammed the door as hard as she could, listening to the clatter of the window and clack of pictures on the wall. Nothing fell down, thankfully. She turned, intending to storm back to her office, but tensed and yelped at the figure that stood just a few steps behind her. She pressed one hand to her chest and took a deep breath, initially intending to reprimand her eldest for sneaking up on her like that, but then paused, taking in the stupid lock of her jaw and the twitch between her brows; two tells, one inherited from each of her parents. Sometimes the girl just took too much after them for comfort, really. “Amber,” She said gently.

“He’s _lying_ ,” She hissed angrily.

“How much of that did you hear?” She asked with a small sigh, shifting to head back towards the kitchen. She glanced up the stairs for a moment, hoping none of the other kids were there, and breathed a sigh of relief at the battle cries she heard from one of the other rooms. Kaden and Newt must have been having another one of their matches to determine who was the better gamer.

Amber was right on her heels. “Enough to know he’s hiding something. Dad wouldn’t have taken on another assignment; he was done with the Blades’ dealings. I think that they still have him… That they’re keeping him for something,” She insisted.

“What would be their reason for that?” She asked evenly, setting the knife down. She tapped the handle once with her index finger before moving to get herself a drink.

“Dad’s one of their best members and they’re work is starting to dwindle. They’ve got less rookies coming in to join their ranks and the need for their tactics is waning as peace is returning to the universe,” Amber answered, leaning back against the kitchen table and crossing her arms. She glanced back at the knife briefly, a heavy and oddly-shaped weight in her belly shifting and causing her to flinch as if she’d been cut, then looked back over at her mother. She offered her a water bottle but she shook her head against the offer. “They need all the members that they can get if they want to keep pretending that they’re needed to maintain the new universe order. And it isn’t like that Blade haven’t implemented questionable methods before… They could easily be keeping him prisoner or have him brain-washed or something.”

“Then it becomes a problem of proving Adwru’s lying. And there’s no way he’d let any of us anywhere near the Blade base,” Pidge answered, cracking open her water bottle and taking a quick swig.

“That’d be the easy part,” Amber scoffed. She blinked then looked away at the curious brow her mother’s cocked at her. “Well, I just mean… I could go undercover in the Blade and see what I can learn or something.”

Pidge’s eyes widened as she focused in on her daughter.

“It wouldn’t be that hard, really,” Amber said, shrugging but averting meeting her mother’s gaze. She had expected that she wouldn’t be fond of the idea; Mom got upset enough when Dad left for missions with the Blade, and he had years of experience under his belt. “Grandma Krolia still works with the Blade from time to time, so she could help me get an in. And, I mean, I’m sure you and the rest of the geniuses’ on Team Voltron could make a disguising device to make me look more Galra so I can blend in better. Alfor mentioned before that there are these Altean devices that can allow you to directly transmit your thoughts and memories into a designated host device, too, so I take one of those so that you’ll always know what’s going on with me. That way if things ever seem like they’re getting too risky, you can call me back.”

A silence fell between them after Amber’s hurried explanation of her plan, Pidge’s eye scrutinizing her daughter like a hawk.

“You’ve thought about this for a while, haven’t you?” She asked.

Amber shrugged, her gaze flittering to land on the tile. “I may have… I just had a bad feeling about this whole thing. Something that Mr. Adwru said to Dad after he came out of the cryopod really bothered me. I thought I was just being paranoid but I guess not,” She sighed. She uncrossed her arms and reached back, grabbing the luxite blade and holding it out. “And this is the final sign to me that he’d full of it! They don’t go back for mementos of fallen Blade members; not in any of the stories Grandma Krolia has told me and never in the ones Dad’s said either! This was supposed to be a way to put a nail in the emotional coffin; an attempt to keep us from being willing to investigate further!”

For a moment, Pidge wasn’t staring at her fourteen year old daughter, watching with frantic and hopeful eyes, praying her idea would be approved. No, she was staring at a mirror of herself when she was only sixteen, years ago, when news of the Kerberos failure first broke. The embarrassing attempt to cover up the truth of the situation. The malicious lie that nearly crushed her own mother’s heart and hope to smithereens.

Her chest swelled with an emotion – pride or pain, she wasn’t sure – before she walked over and gently embraced her daughter. “Okay, we’ll see what we can do with your plan,” She said quietly. Amber sucked in a quiet gasp before hugging her tightly, the luxite blade clattering loudly against the floor. She burrowed her face into her mother’s shoulder and Pidge could feel her shirt start to dampen. “I’ll see about finding a way to get in touch with your Grandma Krolia and the rest of Team Voltron to get the final plans worked out.”

“I have a communicator directly linked to Grandma Krolia,” She sniffled, lifting her head and rubbing at her eyes with the heel of one hand. A small laugh bubbled out of her as she sniffled again. “I wasn’t sure if you’d say yes, so I wanted to make sure that I had a way to make it happen, even if you weren’t on board with it.”

“You’re a little sneak, you know that?” She teased, lightly poking her in the forehead.

“Hey, we’re a family of doers, right?” Amber hummed back.

Pidge nodded and hugged her again, a little bit tighter this time. There was a part of her that was filled with fear and dread over sending her oldest child on the hunt for her father. Sure, she’d done the same when she was just a little bit older, so it was hypocritical of her to criticize. And, on top of that, she’d done it against her own mother’s wishes – though the fact Amber had planned to go behind her back if necessary said something about apples and trees – without nearly as much of a plan in place. This was probably the benefit that Amber had parents that had pioneered intergalactic travel in the name of universal peace.

She could only hope that having more resources would safeguard her daughter from disaster.


	35. Early O'Clock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summer KidgeFest Day One Prompt Fill: Sunrise. I've been working on some Kidge family headcanons over on my Tumblr and it put me in a fluffy, Kidge with babies mood. Have some stupid, cute Momma!Pidge.

The sun hadn’t even come out yet when the sound of shuffling fabric and gradual whining kicked up.

Pidge groaned quietly to herself and looked around, finding the other side of the bed empty. “He already left for his walk, huh?” She grumbled before pushing herself upright and glancing over at the little bassinette just off to the side. She saw the corner of a little peach blanket go flying in the air followed by a short cry that was louder than the previous one. “I hear you, little girl. I’m coming.” She called lightly before pulling back the covers and getting up. She took the short trot over and carefully lifted the little baby from inside. “Hey there, Amber. What’s with all this unchecked aggression?”

The little baby whined softly before flopping against Pidge with a quick whine.

“You hungry, huh?” She mused lightly, shifting to sit down on the edge of the bed. A quick glance at the clock showed that Amber had eaten a little over an hour ago – which explained why Pidge felt even groggier than usual – but it wasn’t uncommon for her have a light snack and then insist on a bigger meal later. She tugged down the right side of her nursing tank top and readjusted her hold on Amber so that the little girl could latch on. Instead, though, the tiny girl turned her head away and let out another protesting cry. She quirked one eyebrow and let out a thoughtful huff. “Okay, so you’re not hungry. Your diaper doesn’t feel full or anything, but it’s better to double-check, I suppose.”

She stood and headed over to the little changing table in the corner. There was already a nursery ready for Amber, but she was still too small to sleep in her crib alone, so they hadn’t moved the changing table out yet. A quick check showed that her diaper was still just as dry and clean as it had been when Pidge put it on her, and she huffed again. “So that wasn’t it, either. Are you just in a mood?” She mused as she picked her back up.

Amber let out another half-wail, her tiny hands balled into fists, and looked up with a pouty lip stuffed out. If the expression wasn’t kind of cute, Pidge would have been a bit more exasperated than she already was.

She headed over and swiped her phone from the bedside table, deciding to send Keith a quick text, before grabbing the blanket, tossing it over one shoulder and heading out to the front room, Amber whining in her arms the whole way. She adjusted her grip to carry her upright, knowing that at this point she wasn’t going to be able to coerce her daughter to go back to bed, and figured she may as well get to look around the house as they walked. One tiny hand rested against her shoulder, clenching and unclenching on it slowly.

When Keith got home, they were trimming those little claws Amber had going, she decided.

In her short time as a parent, Pidge had gotten pretty good at doing tasks that more often required two hands with only one. She started up a fresh pot of coffee, deciding that it was too early for her to not have earned the cup, and perked up when Amber suddenly cooed quietly. She glanced up to see Amber had turned her head to stare out the little kitchen window into the backyard, where light was starting to trickle in.

Once the coffee was starting to brew, Pidge carefully moved the blanket to cover her baby up and slipped out the back door. There was still just a bit of a nip in the air and while it was pleasant for Pidge, she knew it would be a little less so for Amber. “Was this what you wanted? To come and see the sunrise?” She asked quietly.

Amber cooed again, eyes transfixed on the slowly emerging light across the horizon.

“You must get that from your Daddy. He loves the sunrise,” She said with a small sigh, though a soft smile had turned up on her lips. She shifted and settled into one of the patio chairs they had, resting Amber so that she was wrapped in her blanket but facing where the sun was coming up, her little head tilted back to rest against Pidge’s chest with an arm around her little tummy to help keep her steady.

Pidge smiled and kissed the soft inky locks still a bit tousled from sleep on her daughter’s head as she cooed and squealed at the different colors and sights revealed to her by the sunlight. She perked up and watched in surprise as a little bunny hopped out, lifting its ears and turning to stare in their direction for a moment at the sound of Amber’s shrill cry, then scampered off to the scuttle under the fence. She laughed lightly at the loud scream of delight the little animal’s actions got out of the little baby.

Getting up was a little worth it at how much fun it was to see the early morning sights with her daughter nestled up in her arms.


	36. Humility

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summer KidgeFest Day Two Prompt Fill: Beach. Inspired by the song of the same title by Gorillaz. I’m the lonely twin, the left hand. Reset myself and get back on track. I don’t want this isolation. See the state I’m in now?

Pidge wasn’t normally a big fan of the beach – or anything that had to do with the outside in general - but she could definitely see the appeal of the boardwalk for the one near where Lance had grown up. The view of the beach was breath-taking, seeing how the reflected sunlight made it seems like an ocean of twinkling jewels. The sand was a stunning cream color and, while warm from the sun, didn’t seem to be the scorching field of tiny stones she’d been half expecting. The air was humid and had made her hair frizz out a bit after a few dips in the ocean, but it wasn’t necessarily unpleasant.

She had just excused herself to take a walk along the sidewalk nearby when Keith jogged over while hurriedly tugging a shirt over his head, Cosmic Wolf a few paces behind, to catch up with her. “Mind if I tag along?” He asked, pausing briefly to adjust his sandals.

“Wow, you must be really bored with the beach if you’re offering to tag along with me,” She teased lightly as he fell in step with her, ignoring the strange looks people cast their way. She had figured that Cosmic Wolf would catch a bit of attention, given how much of an eye-catching little fluff ball they were.

He shrugged a bit, tugging a bit at his clinging shirt as they walked. “Honestly, I feel like it might be nice to stretch my legs,”

“You were just playing volleyball with the others… Was that not enough of a workout for you?” She teased lightly. She then glanced down at Cosmic Wolf, padding along between the two, then reached out to gently pat their head. Cosmic Wolf let out a happy bark and nudged into her hand, their fur feeling velvety soft under her touch. “I’ve been meaning to ask what you’ve named this little floof poof.”

“Oh, Tsubasa. I thought it’d be a good fit for them,”

“Aw, that’s a cute name! A cute name for a cute pooch, huh, Tsubasa?” She crooned happily, shifting her hand to lightly scratch behind one ear.

Tsubasa’s reaction was to happily bark again and lick at her forearm, earning a laugh from both Keith and Pidge. “I’ve been really glad how well Tsubasa’s been doing at being around everyone else. It was just me, Mom and Tsubasa so they don’t have a lot of socialization,”

Pidge perked up and hummed lightly. “How are you doing with all of that? Finding your Mom and getting to know her, I mean,” She suggested.

He blinked then looked off to the side, his hands sliding into the pockets of his swim trunks. “It’s… Good. I mean, I’m really glad that we were reunited and that we had that time together to kinda… Figure things out,” He sighed and tilted his head back, brows pinched in thought. “Honestly, it’s been more how quickly everything happened after we caught up with you guys to tell you about Lotor. I mean, processing all of that has been more difficult for me.”

Pidge hummed quietly. She could understand exactly how he felt. What had seemed like a betrayal by Shiro, their responsible and strong leader, had certainly been a blow to everyone on the team. Pidge herself had been devastated that the preventive measures she had taken because of what Hunk had pointed out about Shiro’s Galra prosthetic arm ended up being absolutely necessary. She remembered how her hands had been shaking just a bit as she’d put it in place.

She couldn’t imagine how it had felt to be the one to confront Shiro face to face. The one to find the location filled with clones after clone of Shiro, all waiting for the potential to be used by the Galra to take down Voltron from the inside. She was certain that it hadn’t been easy to be the first one confronted with the truth, and then having to jump immediately into a battle without having full time to focus on their battle against Lotor and his Lotron robot.

“I’m sure it hasn’t been easy on you. I’m here if you need me, you know,” She commented gently. He looked at her, seeming just the slightest bit surprised. She shifted and shrugged a bit herself. “Look, I may not understand all of it exactly, but I can at least offer you an ear to listen. And I can try to offer advice, if you want that, but it may not be the best advice ever, I admit. But… I don’t want you to think that just because you’re the leader now, you have to shoulder everything alone. You can talk to us. We’re here for you.”

He offered a small smile and dipped his head. “Thanks, Pidge,” He said quietly.


	37. Forest Spirit Wisdom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summer KidgeFest Day Three Prompt Fill: Festival. Allow me to cheat/ offer a sample on one segment for the one-shot I will eventually - when I stop being so fucking distracted - release that I started back in September of 2016! Because of how long I’ve been working on this fic, this entire story is only canon compliant with the first two seasons. Hopefully you enjoy!

He was so out of place and she got the feeling he was proud of it.

They’d been on the planet for roughly two days fighting off the Galra and helping the rightful rulers take back control via rebellion and the implementation of Voltron. It wasn’t an easy fight, but having reinforcements to call on made it a lot easier than a few other planets they’d been to in recent travels. They’d been successful in ridding the planet of Galrans, sending the troops retreating with their tails between their legs, and permitting control to be returned to royal line. The natives of the planet – Trabbotians – had insisted on a hosting a festival in honor of the successful reclaiming of their home, both in honor of the event itself and as a way of showing gratitude to the Paladins themselves.

Allura, fearful of having to face another incident like with the Arusians, had accepted eagerly. Pidge herself had been relatively ambivalent to the whole arrangement.

“Keith, heads up,” She called in greeting, tossing a circular purple object at him. He caught it easily, uncrossing his arms and scowling at the object, then glanced back up at her. “It’s some kind of fruit. You peel off the purple shell and the insides are super sweet and tasty. It has a taste kinda like a mix between an apple and a peach, but feels more like biting in to a peach, weirdly enough.” The Trabbotians had gone all out in their efforts to make their gratitude known with a bonfire and music and a feast. The planet was completely covered in lush greenery – used by the Galra to keep their troops well fed due to the plentiful vegetation – and they would even be sending them with a few cases of various fruit-and-vegetable-esque edibles to take with them on their travels, as an additional parting gift to the Paladins.

Keith hummed in response, starting to peel off the shell carefully, frowning in confusion at how the little thorns all around it bent easily under his fingertips. “Thanks, Pidge,” He said, looking at her sideways. He quirked an eyebrow and nodded his head at her. “Where did you get all that?”

She smiled and lightly brushed her fingers along the soft material of the jade skirt against her leg, halting at about her right knee where it slanted downwards to cover her left. It had been paired with a simple white wrap along her torso, reminiscent of a sleeveless blouse, and a few decorative marks painted along her left arm from her shoulder to her wrist, the paint-like substance shimmering in shades of gold and green. “The Trabbotians made them for us. They said that we needed clothes for dancing,” She explained. It had been a surprise when two female Trabbotians had led her and Allura to one of the tree huts they lived in, pulling out different fabrics of various colors and chatting eagerly about what styles the girls would like. “They wanted to give you some clothes, too, but you kinda ran off before they could get you. Lance suggested hog-tying you and forcing you to conform.” His nose wrinkled up in distaste at the thought and she laughed, peering out over the small outlook post he’d settled himself at.

The planet reminded her of the one she and Shiro had found the Green Lion on, the memory still fresh despite well over a year passing and Shiro still being absent. She took a small sideways glance at Keith and leaned against the banister of the outpost. Despite being far from pleased with his position as leader, he was growing in to it as well as could be expected. He was finding his own pace and approach to all things, and she stood close by, helping him where she could. Her biggest concern was that he was even higher strung than ever before, now in a constant state of tension, and she fear what would happen if the tension in him finally snapped. What few moments of levity had existed before were gone and, admittedly, she missed having his companionship to wander around the castle or sit in the hanger with her.

She missed seeing him step back and take moments to breath, moments to just bask in the relief and delight of all the good they were doing.

Keith took a bite of the fruit and made a face, juice dribbling down his chin and one hand coming up to try and cup up the drips making a trail down his chin. She snickered at him, resting her chin in one hand. “I warned you that it was a lot like a peach, didn’t I?” She hummed.

He scoffed and rolled his eyes a bit as he swallowed the mouthful, licking the juice he’d caught from his palm. She figured that must have tasted awful, such a sweet flavor being paired with the strange elastic-like taste of the body suits they wore under their Paladin armor. “What kind of peaches have you eaten that just explode in your mouth?”

“Fresher ones than you have, apparently,” She laughed back playfully. She glanced back down as the band started up a new song. The instrumentation reminded her a lot of the folk music from the 1960s and 70s that her mother loved listening to, soft and acoustic and with floaty-sounding lyrics. She shifted a bit, swaying from side to side in time with the beat, before turning back to look at Keith. “Why don’t you come dance with us? You could use a little bit of a break, I think,” She suggested.

His brow knitted and he shook his head. “We need to stay alert. Just because the Galra left for now doesn’t mean they won’t be back with more troops,” He argued lightly.

Her shoulders sagged a bit. “Keith, the Galra have never returned the same night after getting spanked by Voltron. They need more time than that to sulk with their tail between their legs, you know,” She said, gentle and playful, offering her hand to him.

“We have  _more important_  concerns than dancing. I thought you, of all people, would understand that,” He asserted, his expression almost seeming disappointed at her persistence.

Immediately the mirth faded from her and she yanked her arm back towards herself, as if she’d been slapped away. “What’s  _that_  supposed to mean?” She growled, her tone quiet but laced with fury. She took a step towards him, hands falling to her side and clenching into fists. “Because you  _better not_  be trying to imply  _I don’t care_  about Matt or Dad anymore.  _Not_  by a  _long shot_ , pal.”

He looked caught off guard by her blatant call-out. She was glad. “ _What_? No, that’s not what I meant at-!”

“Oh, don’t give me that  _bull_! You know  _exactly_  what you were-!” She started to snarl back.

“Ah, excuse me? Paladins of Onyx and Jade?” The kind and curious voice of Prince Antecrodius chimed in suddenly, causing them both to wheel around to face him. Allura was a few paces behind, lips twisted down in a worried frown as she looked between Pidge and Keith.

Pidge cast one last glare at him before she turned back to the new ruler, her expression schooled back into a more neutral one. “What can we do for you, Your Highness?” She asked politely.

His deer-like ears tipped up and he chuckled lightly. “Ah, please, no need for such stuffy terminology. Your fellow Paladins – Hunk and Lance, I believe they said to call them? - have begun calling me Ante. They say that it is a ‘nickname’ and, as these sorts of names are to be used between those you trust, I would much rather you use it as well,” He explained, shifting a bit on his cloven feet. Trabbotians reminded Pidge quite a bit of the typical depiction of what a faun looked like, though the coloring of their furred flanks was more akin to that of a deer. On top of that, their horns were poised right above their ears instead of their foreheads, and were large and formidable, growing like roots and hanging above the space of their heads.

She smiled and nodded, grateful for a more welcoming conversation. “Okay, then, Ante. You can just call me Pidge then, okay?”

His dark eyes lit up in excitement and his ears almost seemed to flutter with his glee. “Spectacular! Now, Pidge, I have come to ask if you would like to come back to the festivities. My dear Vonnettella has made a gift for you, to show her gratitude at your rescue of her,” He said, offering one hand to her. Vonnettella was the young Prince’s very young niece and only living family member, taken by the Galra to silence his rumblings of mutiny. He glanced to Keith next, smile still warm but a little less exuberant than when issuing the invitation to her. “She has made a gift for you, as well, as it was the two of you working together that saved her. I can have a guard stationed to watch this post for you so that you may come join the celebration, if you would like a reprieve.”

Keith opened his mouth to respond but Pidge stepped forward and took Ante’s hand, saying bluntly. “Ah, no need, Ante.  _Our noble leader_  believes that there are more pressing matters up here than participating.”

Ante tilted his head a bit but nodded in understand at Keith. “A leader’s duties are never done, are they? Well, the offer still stands, should you change your mind,” He said politely before leading Pidge over to the wooden steps that spiraled around the tree to the lookout post.

Allura stepped a bit closer as Keith watched them go, violet eyes wide and cracking like a live wire. “My, that was certainly… Interesting,” She said cautiously.

“What the  _Hell_  is her problem?” He suddenly blurted, pressing the heels of his hands against his eyes and letting out a low snarl. The young Altean stayed quiet as she watched him wheel around and peer over the edge of the banister to the lookout, watching as the duo crossed the grassy dance floor to where little Vonnettella sat waiting, something clenched in her tiny hands. “She just  _twists_  my words around and starts making accusations that make  _no sense_! Does she just want an  _excuse_  to be mad at me or something?” Vonnettella bounced up eagerly at Pidge’s arrival, waving a small flower crown that she’d weaved together in the air. The young woman laughed and knelt, allowing the tiny Trabbotian to place it herself.

The pastel purple, blue and yellow petals were a nice compliment to the honey hue of her hair, Keith noted begrudgingly.

Allura slipped closer to stand beside him, her arms folded neatly behind her back, as she looked form him back down to Pidge. “You and Pidge are having an argument, I presume?” She asked politely.

He blew a loose strand of hair from his eyes and shifted his gaze to her, seeming to be more pouting than scowling like usual. “ _Apparently_  we are. Wish I could tell you over  _what_ , but I’m not entirely sure  _myself_ ,” He huffed lightly.

“You said she was twisting your words a moment ago… Care to elaborate?” She asked. He glared over the edge of the lookout as Ante led her out to join the rest of the couples dancing. His grip on the banister tightened as she was briefly twirled and he caught sight of her smiling brightly at her companion. “Keith, please, tell me? I would like to help you sort this whole nonsense out.”

He sighed, remaining rooted to his spot, but tilted his head to meet her gaze. “She was telling me I should come out and dance with her. I said that I didn’t want to because I wanted to be ready if something happened. She kept insisting that I needed to relax and I told her that there are bigger problems than my need of ‘relaxation’, or lack thereof,” He groused, tone almost flippant, before turning his gaze back down at the celebration beneath them.

Vivid blue eyes shifted from him to the festivities below. “I don’t think it was as simple as all that. I didn’t hear a lot of what was said, but I do know she seemed to have a very specific idea of what you were saying to her,”

“Well, what she  _thought_  I was saying to her. I honestly don’t know  _what_  she thinks I was saying, and I doubt that she’ll even give me the time of day to find out now,”

The princess tapped her lips with one finger thoughtfully. Pidge and Keith butted heads oft enough that they could typically determine what the outcome would be. Normally they’d lose their cool, separate long enough to cool down, and then simply pretend the argument never happened. There were, of course, exceptions to this rule – specifically if it involved battle plans or the like – but she did find it a bit strange that Keith would immediately jump towards being completely cut off. “Perhaps you could just try going down there and talking to her? I’m sure Prince Antecrodius wouldn’t mind if you took her away for a moment just to resolve this whole matter,” She suggested.

He snorted. “ _He_  might not mind, but  _she_  will. She’s having too much fun dancing with His Royal Highness, after all,”

Allura tilted her head a bit, tucking a loose strand of silver that tumbled loose from her bun behind her ear. She looked between he and the dancing couple a few times, trying to figure out why he cared so much. They were teammates, yes, but Keith seemed more distressed by this than necessary. Sure, he and Pidge had grown extremely close in the time since becoming Paladins, so it made sense that they be close. They had once been the arms of Voltron and working together was something they’d been forced to figure out. It was why they so frequently spent time with one another, growing closer so they could be a more effective team. They were always looking out for one another, seeking each other out between battles to spend time together and constantly doing little things for one another without expecting anything in return.

And that was when it all clicked in to place for Allura, and a brilliant plan formed.

“Oh  _quiznak_!” She gasped suddenly, eyes lighting up and lips twisting up in a grin, grabbing on to Keith’s arm and shaking it a bit. He flinched and looked at her as if she’d lost her mind, twitching as if he wanted to pull away from her and put more distance between them. “Keith! I know a way that you can get her to play nice long enough for you two to talk!” She said eagerly.

“You do?” His tone was skeptical and uneasy. She nodded enthusiastically and started tugging him along with her. “And exactly how much embarrassment am I gonna be subjected to for this?”

“Do you want to talk this out with Pidge or not?” She asked bluntly. He let out a resigned sigh and nodded, following after her without another complaint.

Well, until they reached their destination, anyway. It took all of his self-control and forced sense of control to not start panicking when the Altean heiress dragged him into a clothing hut and the female Trabbotian seamstresses’ started working to strip him of his Paladin armor. “Can you just… I can  _undress myself_!” He blurted out at them, cheeks flushed as he stepped back with his hands up.

“Ah, so you’re the modest type, are you?” The younger of the two said in amusement. The older of the two women chuckled as well as she stepped away for a moment, returning with a large gray changing curtain.

“Here, you may undress behind this. Let us know when the armor is off so that we can take your measurements and see what we can work up for you,” The older woman said politely. He darted behind the curtain without any further prompting while the younger gathered the calf and forearm pieces of his armor that they’d been able to get off of him before his fit. “Adritalt, I’m going to go gather some more fabrics and fresh glintuor so that we can apply his markings.”

“Of course, Fenlew,” The younger called back, heading over to a large table across the room. They had stacked each of the Paladins armor there in neat piles, making sure to keep all the pieces together.

“Glintuor?” Keith asked Allura as his arm poked free from the curtain to offer her the thigh-guard portions of his Paladin armor.

Before she could take them, Adritalt swiped them with one arm and offered a small, cushioned stool to Allura with the other. She took it with a polite bow of her head and settled in, folding her hands neatly in her lap. “Pidge said it was similar to something from Earth called ‘face paint’, I believe. All of us have been marked in accordance to our connection to them since we have helped to liberate them. Since you’re now participating, it only makes sense that they would do the same for you,” She explained gently, extending her leg and hitching a bit of her flowing blue skirt up so that he could get a better look at the intricate marks decorating her skin, similar to the ones on Pidge’s arm. They ran from higher up on her thigh than Keith could see and all the way down to her ankle, and were blue and gold instead of green and gold. ”They are traditional markings, with each color representing something different. The gold color is meant to represent valor and righteousness, while the other colors represent something more personal.”

“Oh yeah?” Keith asked as he removed the chest plate of his armor. He paused to stare at it, tracing the black symbol emblazoned on the front. There had been a spare set of each Paladin’s armor for them to switch things around, allowing for Keith to wear his new color and pass along the red color to Lance. The situation had left a bitter taste in his mouth – still did, if he was honest – but becoming leader hadn’t been all bad.

Not when he had Pidge watching his back as he tried to adjust, anyway.

“Oh indeed! Everything we do for all celebrations has a deeper meaning than just looking good!” Fenlew laughed as she darted back in, a few pieces of cloth tucked under one arm and a small case made of a beige fabric under the other. Allura hummed softly in response, smiling as the older woman threw the curtain back unceremoniously, revealing Keith in nothing but his under suit. She scrutinized his mortified expression for a moment before shaking her head a bit. “You will need to remove at least the upper half of the underneath of your protective gear while Adritalt stitches up your outfit. I need to be able to apply the glintour to the designated areas and this will be in the way.” She explained.

“Is this glintour stuff really necessary for all this?” He asked, though he moved to unzip the back of his undersuit and tug it down to hand around his waist.

“It most certainly is. I would be happy to explain the significance of the marks and colors while we get you put together, if you’d like.” She beamed. Adritalt swept over and snagged what remained of his Paladin armor, flashing him a cheeky grin as she darted away.

Keith sighed and shrugged. “Sure. I’ll admit that I’m a little curious,”

Fenlew grinned widely as she led him over toward what appeared to be a work bench with a small chair a few feet away, her brown eyes twinkling in delight. The thought occurred to Keith that she and her people had probably not had much reason to celebrate for a good long time and this whole thing was more an excuse to partake in traditions they’d assumed would die off in the near future. He felt a pang of guilt stab him at refusing to acknowledge the significance this whole festival held for them.

“The markings are only etched upon those that the celebration is held for and the markings and colors are specific for each situation. It is tradition that only specific markings and colors be used for certain events; for example, pinks and purples are typically only used at celebrations of unity or welcoming a new life to the world,” She started as she set the case down and began rummaging through. As she did, Adritalt darted over to take the measurements of Keith’s legs and waist, leaving him a bit confused why she only sized him there, then darted over to a small table nearby with the fabrics Fenlew had brought. “The markings we have given you Paladins are the Signs of Requigh and Signature of Tultulra.” She nudged him to take a seat at the work bench chair so he was facing her. She pulled out a small jar and fished out a glop of whatever was inside, the liquid completely transparent and bearing a scent that reminded him of the eucalyptus candles that reminded him of his Nana. Without any warning, she slapped it down on top of his head and pushed both her hands up and into his bangs, sweeping them up and out of his face. Her fingers were bony, but not as surprisingly unpleasant as he’d initially anticipated. “The Signs of Requigh are markings given to honored soldiers who have accomplished great tasks. The Signature of Tultulra is a blessing that your kindness be repaid to you tenfold.” She worked the gel in carefully to avoid it getting anywhere but his hair, slicking his hair back in long and even strokes.

“I take it the hair style is a must?” He asked dryly as she stepped back for a moment, sizing up the job that she had done. She grinned and hummed, reaching into the bag to pull out a cloth and wipe the remnants of the gel from her hands. A quiet whirling noise had picked up somewhere behind him but he paid it less mind.

“Not necessarily, I just thought it’d make you look more presentable. You should be grateful, too; having your hair pressed back makes you look less like a thug and more like a responsible sort,” She tutted playfully, leaning down a bit to use the cloth to carefully wipe along his hairline. The comment actually earned a startled laugh from him, which seemed to please her greatly by how her ears twitched. She then pulled out a different cloth, dipped it in a small bucket of some clear liquid, and took that to his face, most likely to prepare him for the placement of the glintuor.

“So you mentioned that the colors have a significance, too?” He prompted gently.

She chuckled. “Correct. Now, you’ll have to stay still for a moment for me. I need to make sure that this is all applied properly for you, Paladin of Onyx.” He hummed softly in agreement as she pulled out two small tan jars and what reminded him of a small paint brush. She removed the lids, one filled with black glintuor and the other filled with silver. Fenlew dipped the entire brush into the black and then lightly dabbed it along the silver one. At the soft touch of the cool gel-like substance on his forehead, Keith nearly flinched but remained still as he’d been instructed. The brush began twirling and dancing along his skin, shaping him with marks in their traditional ways. “Blue represents repose and resilience; red represents passion and proclivity; yellow represents sympathy and sincerity; green represents perseverance and poise; and black represents control and clarity.”

He let out a small huff of laughter. “Then I really  _am_  piloting the wrong Lion,” He mumbled quietly, letting his eyes fall shut.

“Keith,” Allura said in a soft and sympathetic tone. She was a few feet away from him. She’d probably moved closer once he’d been settled down.

“It’s the truth. I’m only leader because that’s what  _Shiro_  wanted. None of the rest of you listen because you feel  _inspired_ to; you do it out of  _obligation_. Pidge is the only one who ever listened because it was me and now I’ve gone and pissed her off, too. Shiro would never say anything to set her off like that. Shiro understood people too well to ever do something like that,” He huffed, voice catching a bit in a mix of frustration and disappointment.

He hated that he had to be the leader. He resented Shiro for forcing him into this position but was also heartbroken that he didn’t feel like he was living up to the expectation placed upon him. Shiro was a phenomenal leader. He had personally selected Keith to take over if anything happened because he trusted Keith’s ability. And Keith was doing a phenomenal job of mucking it all up.

“No great leader is born, Keith,” Allura said, her own tone a bit stricter and authoritative, “but they are made. Leaders are people that can see with unclouded eyes, can think of the good of others above themselves, and are willing to learn from mistakes. You are still finding your footing and, admittedly, the rest of us have been struggling to do the same now. There is nothing wrong with that and it is not something you should rack yourself with guilt over. You are currently taking steps to speak with Pidge and handle the problem of miscommunication between the two of you. You will learn from the rough patches and we,  _as a team_ , will work together to take the right path.”

Fenlew hummed lightly, pausing in her work to refresh her brush and move to painting along his neck. “Silver glintour shall accompany your black as opposed to the gold of your comrades. There is a reason for that, Paladin of Onyx; silver is a color used for high ranking members of society, such as royalty or especially high-ranking military members. The color itself represents refinement and resolve, because those two attributes are skills we believe true leaders learn throughout their growth. Certain attributes can be taught, my boy, but others must be cultivated like a sapling upon its planting,” Her brush continued its dance along his neck, just skirting along her collarbone, as she shifted and moved around him carefully. He opened his eyes just as she settled back in across from him and smiled, pausing to give his cheek a gentle pat. “So long as you are open to learning you will never truly fail or falter.”

He flashed her a small smile, taking a deep breath and managing to croak out a quiet, “Thank you.”

While Fenlew cleaned her supplies and returned them to their case, Adritalt offered him the finished clothes she’d put together. He was a bit surprised that it was only a pair of loose black pants that cuffed at his knees, the feel of them being something akin to sweatpants. After that, Fenlew and Adritalt helped to bind his stomach in a clear, plush white wrap, and then gave him two small white wristbands to attach. He looked at Allura curiously once they were done and she giggled. “Hunk and Lance are dressed in a very similar fashion, if that makes you feel better,” She offered, bowing her head in gratitude to the two women.

“Great, I’ll get to Lance go on about how I can’t pull it off like he can,” He scoffed quietly, though he made sure to bow his respects to the women as well.

Allura giggled as they fell in line and made their way out to where the celebration was still going strong. “Well, I think you can take a bit of his teasing, right?” She mused.

He hummed and looked around, watching as the Trabbotians danced about in pairs and groups. The music was nice, he had to admit, with a mellow and soothing sound. He watched as a woman twirled her little daughter dramatically as they danced, both of them giggling and squealing in pure joy. He then glanced over at a small table of older Trabbotians swapping stories and laughing. And then, again, he saw a pair of young lovers, huddled close together, hands atop one another’s, speaking quietly with soft voices and happy tears.

For the first time since the battle, he felt his shoulders slacken just the slightest bit. Sometimes it was hard to remember, between his floundering leadership to their schedule of constant fighting, that they weren’t just defeating the Galra; they were bringing peace to entire planets filled with people. He remembered so many times in the past where he’d been able to step back and watch with pride as those they helped rejoiced their independence. It wasn’t about being seen as a hero or getting to win a fight for him, never had been and never would be, and suddenly he felt better than he had in weeks.

He realized this was why Pidge had been insisting he come out here; to remember the real reason why he was part of Team Voltron.

Keith smiled as he and Allura reached the table where Pidge was chatting with Ante and Vonnettella. Vonnettella perked up first, her ears sticking upright and a huge grin turning up on her lips. “Paladin of Onyx! I made you a crown!” She squeaked happily, clamoring down from her seat with another flower crown in one of her little hands.

Ante and Pidge both seemed a bit surprised but the young heir smiled at him. “I’m glad to see you reconsidered partaking,” He said, his voice warm with sincerity.

Keith smiled and gently knelt down as Vonnettella approached him. “It would be rude of me to not come accept a gift that was made for me, you know,” He teased, smiling at how excited the little Trabbotian was. The flower crown that she’d made for him was similar to Pidge’s, only the colors were a slightly darker hues. He dipped his head to her, chuckling as she carefully set it atop his head, then nodded at her again once it was settled. “Thank you for the wonderful gift.” He said, glancing from her to Pidge briefly, hoping she understood his gratitude extended to both of them.

“You’re welcome!” Vonnettella chirped before darting back over to Ante, jumping up and down excitedly as she asked him if he could see that both Paladins’ were wearing the little trinkets she’d made them. He stood back up as Ante scooped her up and spun her about happily, Pidge watching him calmly.

Her gaze was still a bit guarded, but she did offer him a half smile, which he figured was a good first step. They would still need to talk about their argument later, but at least for now they could be on more comfortable terms.


	38. Walking Dread

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Request Fill from my Tumblr for angerowl29 that read as: So um, if you could bring this to life, that would be rad. Kidge, zombie apocalypse. Keith loves supernatural stuff, and he starts noticing that Pidge is moody every full moon, shes keeping secrets, counting the days, hiding bloody rags, having weird cravings. Thus, he deducts this: Pidge must be a warewolf. He confronts her about it and she laughs hysterically, it was just her period. Boom big reveal. Menstruation situation.
> 
> Minor implication of Shatt included in this story.

“We’ve been walking for  _an eternity_!”

“No whining. With how loud you get, it’ll attract a horde,”

A loud, insulted gasp answered that. “ _What the Hell_  did you just say to me,  _you_ -!”

Seriously, put a sock in it. We can’t go attracting attention!” He seethed quietly, rubbing at one eye with the heel of his hand.

“Oh, as if I care what  _you_  think, Mullet! I was doing  _just fine_ -!”

“Lance,  _please_! Keith is right, we  _must stay quiet_!” A hushed but strict hiss in response, grabbing the other’s arm and squeezing. From what he could see, it was a pretty tight grip, too.

“ _Fine_ ,” Lance gritted out through his teeth, his left eye twitching like he wanted to wince, “but only because Allura said so.”

“Look, why don’t we just make camp for the night?” Another voice chimed lightly, carefully stepping up to get their attention. They all turned to look at the young brunette. “I mean, we’ve been on the go for nearly three days straight. Turning in early for the night and getting a little extra rest will help us in the long run.”

“We aren’t that far off from the next city. If we keep going we could make it there not too long after night fall,” He argued with a small scowl.

“I’m sorry, but I agree with Matt,” Another man said, raising one hand and fidgeting uneasily. “I’m really inclined to agree with him. Some rest and food will do us good. Besides, I have two rabbits in my bag that’ll make a nice stew. We can have something a little bit heartier than just protein bars and beef jerky. That’ll help, too, I’m sure. Does that sound good, Keith?”

“Fine, whatever. Let’s just clear an area and get settled in,” He grumbled angrily, shifting to keep going ahead. It didn’t take them very long to find a small area that looked like it’d be wide enough for their camp and to then start clearing area for their tents. Hunk and his fiancé, Shay, worked on getting a fire area cleared, prepared and started. Meanwhile, Allura, Matt and Shiro started putting together the tents. While they did that, he and Lance went to get some water and see if they could find any additional things to go with dinner. The last member of their group, Katie, seemed to disappear after they all started to pick up different tasks.

It was something he’d noticed her doing a lot in the last few days, and while it left him concerned, he didn’t like the idea of prying into someone else’s business.

From where he was filling up the canteens, a glance further down showed Keith that Katie, the last member of their travelling group, was a little further down, scrubbing at something vigorously. He finished filling the last of the canteens and set them aside before carefully creeping into the thin tree line around the stream to try and get a better look at what she was doing.

He was left gawking with wide eyes at the fabric in her hands, clearly stained with blood. He shifted a bit, able to just barely pick up on her muttering under her breath as she tried to clean it. He shifted to move closer to her, to try and get a better ear on what she was saying, but then Lance started hollering to try and find him. Katie jumped in surprise but he ducked behind a tree before she could spot him, then crept his way back over to join him and yell at him again about watching his volume.

As they all settled in and ate, he kept cast discrete glances at Katie, his mind whirling to focus back on everything he had learned about her since they met when this whole thing started.

It had been nice finding out that people surviving after the zombie apocalypse started became an actual thing.

Keith, being a bit of an odd duck long before this whole thing went down, had always had a bag ready for something like this. Inside the bag, he had some dry foods, bottles of water, a first aid kit, almost every knife he owned and a machete, for just in case. His roommate and long-time best friend, Shiro, had always thought it was a bit strange but had been grateful for it once shit hit the fan. Between he and Shiro, they’d been able to travel and survive for a good while just the two of them. Shiro had been a boy scout in his youth, as well as served in the military, so he knew how to ration out their resources and scrounge up whatever food they could. But then they’d been attacked by a small group of other survivors and Shiro’s arm had gotten gouged open something awful in the struggle. Keith’s first aid kit didn’t have enough supplies to deal with injuries to that extent and he’d been terrified that he was going to lose Shiro that day.

But then they’d been found and taken in by the Holt siblings. The brother-sister duo consisting of Matt and Katie were a surprisingly resourceful and scrappy pair. They’d been managing to survive just the two of them as they travelled, aiming for a military base in Arizona where they said the rest of the family was waiting. After grouping up with Shiro and Keith, they located an abandoned pharmacy that would work well enough for their intended purposes. They got Shiro inside, liquored up and then worked to repair as much damage as they could. Katie suggested to Keith that they go looking for a blood bank, just in case they needed it.

Matt agreed to do what he could, as he had access to a wide array of medical supplies and an education that would help with it, but told them to be as fast as they could be. Thankfully enough, Katie was a clever sort that knew the ins and outs of sneaking around almost as well as Keith himself did.

“Got a lot of experience in sneaking along to place you aren’t supposed to be?” He asked her as he had held her up towards a high up window on the building.

“Probably about as much as you do,” She had said with a small laugh as she hoisted herself up and in, then shifted to help him get inside. There wasn’t a whole lot left in the donor bank, but they found a bag of O blood that they could hook Shiro up to and then slunk away, thankfully unnoticed by the few zombies lurking around. In the end, even with the speedy and attentive treatment, Shiro’s arm had been severally damaged. He’d completely lost sensation in the limb, and it didn’t react as quick as it used to.

From there, Matt suggested that the four of them travel together for safety and the sake of helping Shiro out with his arm. “When we get to the base in Arizona,” He explained patiently, “they’ll probably have the supplies needed to further repair your arm, or remove it if necessary. Maybe even get you a prosthetic arm if it hits that point.” Keith and Shiro briefly discussed it before deciding that it would be for the best. With two of them, they had done well, but going in a slightly larger group had merit as well.

That was almost five months ago and, in that time, Katie’s fast-thinking and resourcefulness had saved their hides more times than he could count. She was small, but agile and had a bit of a pop to her blows. She toted around a machete most times, but she also had a crowbar stashed in her bag to function for both breaking into things or as a weapon. There had been one point, about three weeks after their first meeting, where she’ been able to channel some power from a backup generator in the building they’d taken refuge in to create an electric fence. It worked something similar to a bug zapper for them; the hum of the fence attracted the zombies in, but the high voltage when they tried to touch it zapped them into full-death again.

She was a huge asset to their group and, over their travels together, he’d come to rely on her for more than just her fighting prowess.

Over the years, he had always had Shiro to confide in, but he could see how close the other was growing to the older Holt sibling. He didn’t want to intrude on what he could see was a slowly budding relationship, and Katie, left in a similar position, related to him on that. From there, Keith and Katie started spending a lot more time together and getting to know each other. Before the apocalypse, she’d been a simple college kid living with her brother while they attended college, a lot like him. She was majoring in aerospace technology, which had been great for conversation since Keith had been majoring in aerospace travel. Through those conversations, a friendship was fast forming between the two of them. He learned that she was extremely intelligent but also had a little bit of a passion for the fantastical. They’d talked often about the merits of different mythological creatures and the legends behind various cryptids, speculating on if those things could be real, too. They were living through a zombie apocalypse, so anything seemed possible.

Since she was one of the longest standing members of their group, he paid a lot of attention to her. They had a close bond due to their similar interests and ability to work well as a team. Even as the other four they traveled with slowly trickled in, he had known that he could turn to her when he needed someone to talk to. The idea that she was keeping secrets left him a bit uncomfortable, but he was certain he could figure it out if he kept thinking. He had noticed the oddities in her behavior over the last few days and slowly started to piece things together.

She’d been counting days; specifically, she’d been tracking the phases of the moon.

She’d been on edge and a bit snippy with the rest of the group when they pressed her on certain things.

She was the last to go to bed – sans himself, who had been working as a guard during the nights in case of a zombie attack – and the first one to wake up in the morning. Each time, she’d been out of her shared tent with Matt without him even knowing.

Pairing that up with the fact that he knew which cryptid she found the most fascinating, and he had an answer. He just had to confront her on it.

Once they all finished eating, Matt and Katie cleaned off their cooking gear. Once they returned and they got things packed back up, they decided to discuss the rotation of who was watching out for danger that night. “We all already know Keith will just bully his way into watching the whole night, so do we even need to waste our time?” Lance asked with a quirked eyebrow.

Keith blinked then glared at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well,” Shay chimed in, a bit meek, “Lance does have a point. You’ve been taking every night patrol since the incident back in Huntsville.”

“I’m trying to keep us all alive. We saw what happens to other groups when they don’t have a lookout,” He snapped defensively.

“No one is saying it’s a bad idea,” Shiro chimed in calmly from where he sat, Matt beside him and massaging his bad arm gently. Sometimes getting the blood flowing a little better could help with its react time. “But you can’t be the only one doing it. You need to get some rest every now and again, too.”

“I’m the most effective fighter here. It makes the most sense for me to take the night shift,” He argued.

“And we’re not saying you can’t take one, but you need to actually swap out with whoever comes next,” Matt agreed.

He rolled his eyes, grabbed his trusty knife, and abandoned his seat to go find his spot to watch out. He was too stressed and confused to deal with this kind of nonsense from the others. He didn’t get very far from the firelight before quiet steps caught up with him. He wheeled around, ready to snap at whoever was following him, but tensed up further when he saw that it was Katie. “Hey, I know you’re tired and everything, but you don’t need to be an ass about us trying to give you a night off,” She said, looking slightly irritated herself.

He reached up and ran a hand through his hair. “I’m not tired,” He growled out.

“Bullshit!” She snapped, keeping her volume low and stepping closer to his personal space. She held his gaze, her eyes flickering in and out of view at the dwindling sun light as night began to descend upon them all.

“We need to talk,” He said lowly, not thinking about anything else but the revelation he’d had.

She stared at him for a moment, brow knit in bemusement. “What about?”

“About your secret,” He felt his stomach churn at how her eyes widened in mortification. He nodded his head. “Come on, where we can talk more privately.” She fell in line behind him, her steps quiet and measured. He could tell there was more distance between them than usual. She was most likely unnerved by him knowing the truth.

Once they were far enough away, he wheeled around to stare at her. “Okay, say whatever you need to say about it,” She said, her hands clenched into fists beside her.

“What I have to say? I want to know why you never told me. So many times we’ve talked about these kinds of possibilities, as if they were completely impossible, and then… You don’t tell me about how right we were?”

She blinked then cocked her head in clear confusion. “Um, what?”

“You know what. I figured it out pretty easy once I saw you earlier today, at the stream,” He said with a small scowl of his own. She only continued to stare at him in clear confusion. “The rag you were cleaning… It’s from your transformation because of the full moon. We’ve discussed it before that it would only make sense that a transformation between forms that are so drastically different in size there would have to be some kind of gore.”

“Transformation because of the…? Are you accusing me of being a  _werewolf_?” She asked in slight disbelief.

“You don’t have to keep the secret from me anymore. I figured it out, and I’ll keep it from the others for you,” He vowed gently. She shifted to rest her hands on her knees and lean over, her body shaking just slightly. He doubted that it was a situation of her shifting, as the moon was still far too low, but he thought it was relief from no longer needing to bear the weight alone. Then, he caught the sound of little snorts coming out of her. “Are you… Are you  _laughing_?”

“I’m sorry,” She managed to giggle out, “I just… How do you figure it was that?”

He glared at her defensively. “It’s the only thing that makes sense with how you’ve been acting! You’ve been moody, you’re counting days and tracking the cycle of the moon, that cloth you were cleaning earlier… It all adds up to transforming into a werewolf!”

“Or it’s a much simpler solution, like me being on my period. Because that’s what it is,” She pressed out between giggles.

“Wait… Really?”

“Uh, yeah. I mean, that kind of stuff is impossible to get or keep right now. And managing time? Nearly impossible if you don’t come up with alternate methods. I’ve been using the position of the moon to help me keep track of time so that I can be ready when it hits. How was that not your first thought?” She snorted. She then tilted her head to look at him a bit better and shook her head. “You really are too tired. Look, I’ll take the first shift, have Matt take the second, and then you can take the third shift if you really feel like you need to, okay?”

He hesitated, glancing at her and then back at the camp. He did, admittedly, feel worn down and in need of some sleep. And when she pointed it out, he realized that what she said did make more sense than her being a werewolf. “Are… Are you sure?” He asked.

“Keith, get some sleep. I promise you’ll feel better in the morning. And I promise I’ll keep this from the others,” She said, giving his shoulder a squeeze and struggling to keep a straight face at her last words. He scrubbed his face with his hands, letting out a low groan as she fell into another brief bout of giggles, then ducked back to where the rest were waiting. Well, at least this meant that she wasn’t keeping a big secret from him.

Meanwhile, Pidge relaxed as she realized that Keith hadn’t figured out she’d developed a crush on him over their months of travel.


	39. No Need for a Pity Party/ Social Foo-Pah

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Originally a two-part fic that I decided to combine for ease of posting here, hence the dash in the titles. After landing on a planet of empaths to protect the planet's young princess for Lotor and his generals, Pidge is forced to face her feelings for Keith, whether she likes it or not, Meanwhile, the young princess enlists the help of Allura to try and get Pidge and Keith together at the evening's festivities, as a show of her gratitude for their assistance in guard duty. It goes about as well as expected.

The planet of Firnes reminded her so much of Earth it was a little surreal. Everything about the planet was just like back on Earth; the gravitational pull, the concentration of oxygen in the air, even the Firnesians themselves were almost identical to humans in body structure and anatomy. “That is because both our galaxies – your Milky Way and our Turla Drey – are both classified as being Terranian galaxies,” Queen Simona, ruler of the planet, explained as she led them from the conference room to their designated assigned spots. Tonight was to be the celebration of the young Princess Maia’s birth and her official grand entrance into society, attending her first kingdom-wide gala. There was concern on Queen Simona’s part, though, that Prince Lotor may show up in an attempt to plan some kind of trick to force the people of Firnes under his control. An entrance into society meant that Princess Maia would also be considered eligible for courtship and marriage by someone of a close or equal social standing.

For Queen Simona, the thought of her only heir being trapped into a political marriage to avoid the enslavement of their people was unthinkable; hence why she called Voltron in to help.

“Green Paladin,” She had said, pausing briefly in front of a large set of double doors, “I should like for you and the Blue Paladin to keep my dear Maia company while she relaxes.”

Pidge scowled a bit but Allura flashed a tight smile of her own. “If I may be so bold to ask, Queen Simona,” She began to say as the older woman shoved the doors open.

“I selected the two of you because the gardens would be suited best to your positions,” She said calmly, stepping aside a bit to leave the two women to gawk. Calling the space before them a garden seemed like a serious understatement; it was more like a little oasis. There was a large waterfall a few feet away from them, with a small stream that ran through the lush fields covered in grass and various blooming flowers. Queen Simona looked at them with an almost smug smile on her demure face. “You are the Paladin of the Forest and the Paladin of Water respectfully, are you not?”

“You’re sneaky, you know that?” Pidge asked, trying to keep how impressed she was by the Queen’s tactics to herself. She and Allura had encountered it often enough on different planets – some of which were also a matriarchy like this one – where they were given the easiest tasks because they were female.

The older woman chuckled lightly. “I was a soldier once a long time ago, you know,” She mused lightly.

“Playing to our strengths, I see?” Shiro chimed in curiously.

Queen Simona nodded. “I know a thing or two about being tactical, Black Paladin. Now, are there any others amongst your reinforcements that might bode well with guarding the gardens?”

“The Blade tend to be better with stealth and covert operations, actually, so I’m not totally sure if any of them would be good helping out with that,” He chimed. Pidge flinched then scowled slightly, causing Allura to hide an amused smile behind one of her hands. “Well, actually, there is a Blade member that might work well with Allura and Pidge. His name is Ke-!”

“Oh, gee, we should really get to work on guarding the princess, don’t you think?” Pidge cut in, flashing Shiro a pointed look before looking back at Queen Simona. “Where will we find her in there?”

The older woman blinked a bit in surprise before the look of ambivalence returned. “Maia spends much of her time in the gardens working on her studies. She is most likely resting against the tree on the other side of the stream. There’s a small bridge just a little farther down that you can use to get across,” She suggested gently.

Allura and Pidge bowed respectfully before scampering off into the lush area. A small smirk turned up on the smaller woman’s lips. “You were totally about to call the Queen out on being sexist, weren’t you?” She teased.

A flush came to the Altean heiress’ cheeks and she turned her head away. “W-Well, considering what just occurred on Yultarel, can you blame me for being a bit worried?” She huffed lightly.

“I’m just teasing, you know,” Pidge mused lightly before perking up as the crossed the bridge and spotted the young princess, settled in a small heap of gown and leaves at the base of the tree, a small furry creature settled in her lap. “Huh, she and the Queen don’t look a lot like each other.” She commented.

Where Queen Simona was tall, olive-skinned with dark hair kept in a tight bun, Princess Maia was extremely pale with even darker hair that she let hang loose, a few leaves and flower petals tangled in the strands. “Perhaps Princess Maia simply takes after her other parent in regards to appearance?” Allura suggested.

The other woman suddenly perked up, having heard their approach, and smiled brightly. “Ah, you must be the Paladins of Voltron! Greetings!” She called happily, raising one hand to wave at them. Pidge noticed strange, gleaming golden symbols covering the other woman’s arms, littering across her hand and tracing all the way down to her elbow.

Allura smiled and waved back as the approached. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Princess,” She mused lightly, settling to sit in a cross-legged position across from her. Pidge settled down in the same position but so that she was between them both, the trio making a triangle with their locations.

Princess Maia giggled and waved one hand lightly. “Oh, please, no need for formalities with me! I would like you to simply call me Maia; we are to be allies, are we not? And allies are, in a strange way, friends that rally together against a cause! Or, rather, that is what Mother has always told me,” She mused lightly.

“That’s certainly an excellent way to look at the situation,” Allura agreed. She then turned her attention down to the fluffy grey form curled in the other princess’ lap. “And who, may I ask, is this cute little fellow?” She asked.

The other’s bright green eyes lit up like a sky full of fireworks. “This is Squire, my pet Heelaw. They domesticated rodents,” She explained happily, lightly rubbing behind one of the creatures large ears. “You may pet him if you would like.”

Pidge tilted her head curiously as she reached out, letting her fingers just skim over the top of the creature’s pelt. It was velvety soft under her touch and she chuckled a bit. “Reminds me of a chinchilla,” She mused lightly.

Maia perked up and smiled widely. “You have creatures similar to him on your home planet, as well?” She asked.

“Yeah, we do,”

The young woman cast a hopeful glance at Allura next, only to be answered with a shy smile. “I’m afraid the closest we had on Altea were mice… Though, if you would like, I suppose I could bring the four we mice we have on the ship,” She offered.

“I would absolutely love that! I’ve been so excited to meet the delegates of other planets and learn of their culture!” Maia gushed. She then looked between the two Paladins. “Will any other factions of the Voltron Coalition be attending tonight? I’ve heard so much about the others that have allied themselves and would love to meet some of them,” Maia asked excitedly.

“Well, there will be a small variety of Commanders and fighters from the rebellion. Most of the rebels hail from various different worlds and galaxies, and I’m sure they’ve all got plenty of interesting stories to share,” She mused lightly. Pidge shifted to look up at the tree, watching as the leaves shifted and created small slivers along the ground. It reminded her a bit of the old oak in the backyard back home, that had once housed a tire swing for she and Matt. “Oh, and there will also be a few members of the Blade of Marmora attending, to assure we have as much security as possible.”

“Ugh, but do they  _really_  need to be here? I mean, between the rebels and us, it just seems a little excessive,” Pidge grumbled, more to herself than the others, but she heard a curious hum come from Maia and an amused one from Allura.

“Is that really why you’re against them being here? Or is it more because you just don’t want to see You-Know-Who?”

“Allura, don’t start with me,” Pidge huffed, shifting to send a small glare at the other woman.

The other shrugged. “Look, I’m just saying that it’s okay to be honest. I’m not sure hwy you don’t want to see him but I’m sure you have your reasons,”

“Who?” Maia piped in.

“His name is Keith,” Allura said before Pidge could say anything, “and he and Pidge are masters at dancing around each other.”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about, Allura,” Pidge huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

Maia blinked then offered a mischievous grin. “Care to prove the validity of that statement?” She inquired, offering one of her hands to Pidge.

She quirked an eyebrow at the other woman, tilting her head slightly at the golden symbols seeming to wink at her. “What do you mean by that, exactly?”

“The rulers and governmental figures of our race are selected specifically due to having the power to read and translate the emotions of others,” She explained, indicating the golden marks. She turned her hand over and tapped a symbol that reminded Pidge of an eye in the center of her palm. “Within the first three years of an individual’s life, this symbol will manifest in the palm of their dominant hand and their powers will activate from that point forward. I’m still learning how to harness it fully, but I should still be able to get a decent reading on what exactly it is you feel for this Keith person; plus, it’ll be a good way to test my abilities. I mean, unless you have something to hide.” She explained, her tone becoming more playful at the last statement.

Pidge growled before setting her hand on top of Maia’s. “I’ve got nothing to hide. Read away,” She huffed.

Maia giggled before shifting to adjust Pidge’s grip a bit, so that Pidge’s palm was pressed flat against her own, with Pidge’s fingers dangling over the side of Maia’s hand between her thumb and index finger. She closed her eyes and released a slow breath, the marks all along her arm beginning to shimmer and shine. A warmth creeping into Pidge’s being, starting in her arm and spreading quickly. “Okay, let’s see here… The surface level information is that you are enraged by him, but I believe that we all know that anger is most oft just a cover for something deeper. Underneath that, I get a sense of… Adoration and admiration. You see a relation between the two of you in regards to your personalities that makes him easier for you to connect to, but that he is more skilled in an area you feel you lack in. You find this to be an admirable aspect of him, and adore the ease with which you two are able to engage one another,” She mused, her eyebrow lifting a bit but her eyes remaining closed. Pidge had to fight the instinct to tear her hand away, already becoming uneasy with the information being laid out in the open.

“Hmm… Under that, I get the feelings of something a bit more sensual and intimate? I’m afraid this isn’t a feeling that I am familiar with, so I can only venture a guess,” Maia mused lightly, her brows knitting slightly. Allura let out a quiet but amused gasp while Pidge felt her cheeks heat up, casting a warning glare at the other. Allura’s response was to only continue grinning as if she were Lance. “But… Most prominently… I sense apprehension. You feel… Distrustful of him, like relying on him would be a mistake. You… You are in love with him, but you are hesitant to say so to him or any others? You don’t trust that your feelings would be appreciated or wanted.”

With that, Pidge yanked her hand away and pushed herself to stand upright. Allura’s teasing grin was gone, now, and replaced with a worried frown. “Oh, Pidge,” She said quietly, her tone nearly dripping in pity.

“Oh, save it, Allura!” She snapped, glaring more vehemently at the other now.

She looked stunned, blue eyes wide. “Pidge, I wasn’t going to say an-!”

“ _Yes_ , you were! You were going to tell me how I shouldn’t feel that way, or how sorry you are that I do! I don’t need your pity, or your advice, or anything like that! So what if I have feelings for him? There’s no point in acting on them!” She growled out, her hands clenched at her side. She shouldn’t have let herself get goaded into this by the sake of her pride. She didn’t need this empath making her feelings known to Allura; she didn’t need or want the pity that would undoubtedly crop up with the revelation, from both her actual feelings and the additional assumptions that would be made.

She knew not to tell Keith how she felt. It would ruin their friendship, as well as be pointless. Keith was clearly more invested in his training and missions with the Blade. Her feelings would just be a burden to him, a wedge between them, and then a bullet to be delivered right into her own foot. Even if he felt the same way, she knew that he would never be able to truly give himself to her; no matter what, he’d always put his responsibilities to the Blade ahead of any responsibilities to her and a romantic relationship.

She wasn’t going to set herself up for that heartache and disappointment. She was smarter than that.

She turned towards the bridge that led back inside. “I’m going to talk with Queen Simona about being stationed somewhere else, or doing a perimeter check or something,” She grumbled before storming off.

Allura held her hand out, as if she intended to stop the other, then sighed and let her hand drop. She hadn’t meant to upset her. She then turned to look at Maia, who was watching the other walk away with a thoughtful expression. “I am incredibly sorry, Maia. I’m afraid Pidge has always been someone whom enjoys her privacy,” She said gently.

“I would like very much to help her,” Maia said, blinking slowly and lifting her head to meet Allura’s eye. She offered a small smile. “Mother says that it is our job as those with the ability to read emotion to help resolve such conflicts. Should Keith be in attendance tonight, would you be so kind as to get me an audience with him? If I can get a read of his emotions, and should they be similar to that of what Pidge feels, then we could convince them to discuss their situation and how to proceed!” She insisted happily.

Allura glanced down at Maia and then back up at where Pidge had disappeared. “This could either end very well, or very poorly… Count me in, I suppose. I’ll see what I can do once the Blade gets here,” She said with a forced smile, an uneasy feeling settling in her gut despite the excitement of the other heiress. The idea of meddling in the affairs of the other Paladins’ felt rude, but she was also Pidge’s friend; and, as her friend, she didn’t like the idea of Pidge refusing herself a chance to be happy due to a bunch of ‘what-if’s'.

———————————————————————————————————–

The grand hall of Queen Simona’s castle had been decked out in elaborate tapestries in various violet, blue and white hues. All the tapestries bore an image of a strange creature that he could only say had to be something akin to a hydra, but each head belonged to a different type of animal and was outlined in a different color. At the center of the piece, with one claw poised just beside it, was a broad sword stuck inside a stone. Keith remembered from the briefing they’d had upon arrival that the colors and insignia were representative of the new world order that Queen Simona had brought to her Firnes many years prior. He reached out with one hand and gently toyed with the tassels at the end of one of the tapestries. He was mildly impressed by how much had been done in so little time to get the place ready.

He heard Kolivan let out a mildly displeased huff. “Keith, please remove your hands from the tapestries. They are materials seen as pivotal to this ceremony,” He said, his tone reminding him of his younger years and getting scolded for sneaking candy bars into the grocery cart.

He rolled his eyes. “Oh please. I doubt that they’re  _that_  instrumental to what they’re doing. They look like little more than decorative pieces,” He scoffed.

“Decorative pieces they may be, but they do also serve a purpose,” Queen Simona’s voice was light with a mix of amusement and delight as she approached, the soft click of her heels echoing in the otherwise vacant room. Both Blade members flinched and turned to face her as she approached, Shiro and another lumbering figure a few paces behind her.

“For years, under the tyranny of Queen Maura, our people suffered greatly. She kept them hidden in a fog of false feelings using her powers, keeping them from feeling discomfort over the things she was doing. These tapestries are the insignia that the rebellion Queen Simona led was represented by. They have become a symbol of courage and perseverance to our people,” The tall man behind her said, reaching into a pocket of his coat and pulling out a small bottle. He squeezed a pale blue liquid into one eye, causing Keith to realize that eye was unnaturally glossy.

“I didn’t realize that it held such significance. I apologize for messing with it,” Keith said, dipping his head at her both in a sign of apology and to avoid the scolding look his superior commander was sending his way.

Queen Simona chuckled lightly and gave the man beside her a gentle slap on the shoulder. “Oh, ignore him, young one. Dom’s become a stuffy sort as we’ve grown older,” She explained, her tone light and jesting as she looked at the man in question.

The other shook his head, fixing his one good eye on her, but his lips twitched at the corners in amusement. “You’ve never been good at professionalism, Mona,”

Kolivan stepped forward, offering one hand to the man. “I take it that you are Dominic de Cortez, the head of the royal guard?” He asked.

The other nodded, his expression levelling back out, and took the outstretched hand. “Correct, I am. I take it you are the Blade member in charge of the team you’ve sent along to assist Team Voltron with this. Kolivan, yes?”

He nodded. “Yes. I was hoping to do a debriefing regarding the intelligence we have, as well as discussing the knight rotation throughout the ceremony,”

“Of course. Would it be possible for your young Blade member and the Black Paladin to stay with Queen Simona while we are gone, just in case?” Dom asked, shifting to look over at Keith and Shiro.

Keith blinked a bit in surprise before nodding. “We’ll keep her safe while you’re gone,” He vowed. Queen Simona herself scoffed a bit and shook her head, mumbling something under her breath, but she waved the two older men off with one hand. Keith glanced at her uneasily. “I’m sorry if I’ve offended you, Your Highness.”

She perked up in surprise before shaking her head. “I apologize. My problem is more with Dominic treating me as if I am still a child. I led a rebellion, by the graces; I think I can protect myself about some spoiled Galran prince and his lackeys if needed,”

“His generals and he are extremely competent fighters, actually. We’ve encountered them enough times to know they are not a force to be underestimated. That’s part of the reason you invited us here, after all; concern over his growing forces being enough to twist Princess Maia to sway to his demands,” Shiro commented before turning his attention to the tapestry. He reached out and touched one of the heads, the silhouette reminding him of a moose. “So the insignia is symbolic of your rebellion?”

“Yes. The sword itself is a representation of myself, as I was the one that orchestrated the rebellion. Each of these heads represents the family beast of each of my seven advisers. The one you are looking at is actually the representative of Dominic,” She explained.

“So you’re a queen with advisers?” Keith asked curiously. In most of the planets they’d visited, it was either ruled by a monarch or by a small council.

“The problem with our previous governmental system,” She explained, her gaze remaining fixated on the tapestry, “was that it was a council composed of members from the same family. There was no variety in the opinions being presented, no insight into how their decisions might affect another demographic of people negatively. None of the members of the council had lived an experience particularly different from the others, so there was no deeper insight. There was also far too much trust and acclaim placed in one another due to the belief that family would always look out for one another; this factor was how Queen Maura was able to rise and snuff out any voice that spoke out against her. For almost all my years of combat, my seven advisers have been by my side. They have helped me to grow as a person and offered me other avenues I would not have considered before. They have disagreed with me and corrected my path when necessary. I have trust in their judgment of myself, as well as trust in my judgment of them, so our system has worked out as well as any system designed by a creature that is not of a celestial status could. All of them have the ability to veto my ideas, and new policies are not put in place without every adviser having a say in what works and if any modifications are necessary.”

“That seems to be quite sound for your people. But I thought that your empathic abilities were how you governed?” Shiro asked.

“The old system lied much more heavily on the abilities of those like myself than the system I’ve designed does. My powers are used more as a clarification point, really. There have been officials and nobles that come with complaints, claiming to be looking out for their fellow man, only to reveal they have disingenuous intentions once I am able to ascertain their deeper emotions,” She said.

“So you’re less a queen and more a ruling lie detector, only with a deeper scope and higher point of accuracy,” Keith said.

Shiro flushed and cast him an annoyed glance. “Keith! That’s an incredibly rude way to put it!” He chided before looking back over at Queen Simona, whom had taken to laughing politely into her hand at the exchange. “I apologize for him. He’s not always the best when it comes to other people.”

“It is quite fine, Black Paladin. I appreciate the curiosity you and the others have exhibited since being here, as well as seeing how you tie things to your own culture for a better understanding. Knowledge can be a pivotal weapon you can use to your advantage; especially in regards to those you are allied with. I could send one of these along with you on your travels, if you’d like,” She offered, gently patting the tapestry once more before looking at both men.

“I’d appreciate one, thank you,” Shiro agreed, offering her a small smile. He opened his mouth to say something else but the large double doors of the grand hall opened and the three turned to face the smaller figure entering. “Oh, Pidge. Shouldn’t you be looking after Princess Maia with Allura, in the garden?”

Pidge tensed up and froze, her eyes locking on Keith. He perked up and cast her an almost sheepish look. She scoffed and looked over at Shiro and Queen Simona again. “I was wondering if there were any other duties you thought I’d be well-suited for. Like, maybe helping set up surveillance equipment or something,” She said quickly.

Queen Simona’s brow knit in concern. “Did something transpire between yourself and young Maia? She’s an excitable sort and has a bad tendency of occasionally speaking without thinking first,” She said gently, beginning to cross the room over to her.

“I may be the Green Paladin, but I’m not much of a nature fanatic,” She said quickly.

“She’s right about that; she’s one of the most intelligent people I’ve ever met, and can hack or repair almost anything,” Keith chimed in, trying to offer her a small smile.

She pointedly ignored him. “I’d be more comfortable doing something regarding technology,” She insisted, her own gaze falling to tiled floors beneath her.

“Of course, Green Paladin,” Queen Simona said before reaching over to a small speaker beside the doors. She clicked the little red switch on it and leaned closer. “Giselle, will you send one of your assistants to help lead the Green Paladin down to assist you in preparing the monitoring devices for this evening?” She made sure to flip the switch all the way down after her words, most likely opening the channel to whom she was addressing.

There was a brief pause filled with static noise before another voice responded, “I already have  _plenty_  of help. The elderly Altean gentleman is quite…  _enthusiastic_ about partaking in every element of our preparation.” The woman’s voice was tight, as if she was barely restraining herself from losing it, and filled with forced enthusiasm.

“The Green Paladin is a technological thinker as well, but a bit more subdued in personality compared to your current companion. View her as more of an assistant to help with reining in the talent you are currently accompanied with, if you’re so obliged,” Simona suggested.

She had barely flicked the switch down to open the channel before Giselle was heard shouting, “One of you go collect the Green Paladin from the grand hall  _this instant_! She is going to be of  _great help_  to us!”

“Thank you, Giselle,” Simona said with a small laugh.

“No, thank  _you_  and thank the Green Paladin, my Queen,” She said before there was the click of her end going silent again.

With another small shake of her head, Queen Simona turned the device off. “I hope you don’t mind my having to present the situation the way that I did to Giselle. She tends to be very particular about how she takes care of the devices we implement around here. She barely even lets her own personally trained assistants do more than run errands and double-check readings,” She explained.

“Pidge tends to be that way when she’s working on a big project, too,” Shiro commented, hoping to ease some of the tension lingering still. Keith was watching Pidge like a hawk, occasionally shifting as if he wanted to catch her attention, and she, in response, was making sure to keep her face turned away from him. The silence between them was stifling, which was strange considering who it was he was talking about, and it had him a bit concerned. He knew there’d been some kind of argument between them during Keith’s last brief stint on the Castle of Lions, but neither of them would elaborate further than that.

The Green Paladin shifted, moving to head back out the doors. “Thank you, Queen Simona. I’ll wait outside for my escort then,” She said as she shifted to back out.

“I’ll wait with you,” Keith said, starting to approach the doors.

“I can take care of myself. And I’m sure you have your orders from the Blade,” She snapped quickly before storming out, ignoring how the young man visibly flinched at her words.

“Oh, my,” Simona mumbled, looking back over at the crestfallen Blade member. She then glanced over at Shiro, noting the worried frown on his face. “I take it that there is some kind of strain between the two of you?”

Keith perked up then glared off to the side. “It’s… It’s her problem, not mine. If she wants to be petty and hold a grudge, that’s her choice,” He grumbled before turning and heading to check the rest of the room, to assure that things were secure.

The two leaders exchanged looks before Shiro shrugged. “We should avoid getting involved. These two can be kind of… Stubborn, to put it lightly. And they tend to shut down if they feel like they’re being poked and prodded. If we can keep them apart until I can talk with them and diffuse the situation, I’d appreciate it,” He explained quietly.

“I understand. I’ll have them assigned to opposing areas in the grand hall tonight,” She agreed, offering him a small smile to help reassure him. He nodded his head in gratitude and looked over at Keith again, hoping that things could be blown over easy once they had time to address them.

———————————————————————————————————–

The hustle and bustle of the party ended up being much larger than expected, creeping from outside the walls of the castle and trickling into the city streets. It seemed that the whole capital – maybe even the entire planet! – was celebrating in some way for the young princess. The city streets were decked out with smaller, paper versions of the fabric tapestries, hanging from strings looped between the lampposts lining the city. The denizens were all dressed in their best outfits, wearing the same colors of the tapestries, singing and chanting the songs of the people.

Queen Simona insisted that the windows and balcony doors be left open, as it allowed the natural air circulation to keep the castle cooled, so there was a Blade member stationed at each entrance, ducked out in the shadows and keeping a watch for any suspicious activity. Members of the rebellion were intermingled in the crowd both in the castle and in the streets, monitoring for any sign of Lotor or his generals.

Allura herself was poised close to the end of the staircase where the royal family would be making their arrival from. Standing at the other end was Hunk, looking around pensively, anxious over potential missing any hint that something could be going wrong. She did a quick scan to double check where the two in her plans were present. Pidge was stationed beside one of the inner doors to a balcony, chatting amicably with the Firnesian guard stationed alongside her. A decent space away, back over by the main entrance, was Keith, most likely receiving his orders from Kolivan. She made a mental note to keep track on him, in specific, to guarantee the plan she and Maia had come up with could be followed. She then turned her attention to the top of the spiral stairs as the orchestra started up a much softer, gentler song.

At the top of the staircase stood Queen Simona, Maia and another woman beside her. The other woman seemed to be about the same age as Queen Simona, with inky hair that had been curled and teased, the strands bouncing mere centimeters above her bare shoulders. She was wrapped in a strapless violet gown with a white sash around her waist and matching gloves that reached her elbows. She leaned over to Maia, carefully tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear, her eyes warm with affection as she spoke quietly to her. There was a resemblance in the two, in the curve of their faces and shape of their eyes, though the older woman’s eyes were stormy blue-grey. The younger woman was rocking back and forth on her feet, looking up at both she and Simona in barely contained delight, the long edges of her pearl gown skimming along the plush rug below her.

Simona dipped her head to say something, pressing a small kiss to her forehead, before taking a deep breath and reaching towards a small marble pillar beside her. The marks on her own arms almost seemed to be glowing in the celebratory lights. Atop a cushion was what seemed to be a silver choker of some sort, with small droplet-sized stones embedded in it, as well as a long strip of a velvety looking fabric. Queen Simona raised the fabric and offered it to the woman beside her, then carefully picked up the ornate necklace. “Thank you, to every single person in attendance for this moment. It is an honor to see so many coming out to share this moment with our beloved Maia,” She said, pausing to flash a gentle look at the young heiress before her.

The crowd before them erupted into a delighted cheer, boosted as those on the outside joined in as well.

She smiled and dipped her head. “As is customary for a young one’s official entrance into society, here before her newfound peers and equals, she shall be given a family heirloom and have her hair styled by her parentage. For her family heirloom, she shall receive the chain of truth, as customary of an empath with her skill and prowess,” She explained before glancing at the other woman.

“And, for her hair style, she shall have it styled in a simple braid with the cloth in my hand. The fabric is soft yet sturdy, the braid practical and humble, as these are the attributes she will be wise to remember as she continues down the path of adulthood,” She said, pausing to again tuck another rebel lock of hair behind the princess’ ear.

The crowd cheered the whole time as the black haired woman twisted and tied her hair off into the aforementioned braid, and then when Queen Simona carefully clicked the clasp of the necklace into place, the fit snug enough that it wouldn’t dangle but also loose enough that it shouldn’t inhibit her ability to breath, eat or speak. Once she was finished with the ceremonial parts, she received a peck to each cheek from each of her parents, then turned and slowly made her way down the steps. Once she reached the end, the thunderous excitement in the crowd seemed to miraculously reach greater heights, the collection swarming upon her to congratulate and greet her proper. Hunk shifted and took his position beside her, serving as a personal guard in case anyone got too grabby or enthusiastic.

It was quite some time before things settled down enough for Allura and Hunk to swap posts, the Yellow Paladin offering her a relieved smile before slinking off to find himself something to drink and eat. She offered him a small wave before her attention shifted back to her enthusiastic ward, bright-eyed and fidgeting in her giddiness, Squire poised on her shoulder. This left the young Altean a bit bemused, as she hadn’t seen the little Heelaw anywhere prior to that point. “Is this Keith person in attendance?” She asked eagerly, gently taking hold of the taller woman’s upper arm.

“He is. He should be over by the balcony right now, speaking with Kolivan, the leader of the Blade,” She said, guiding them towards where they were. She opted against adding that, upon seeing his approach, Pidge had ducked and disappeared into the crowd.

“Excellent! What kind of person is he? From what little I could glean from Pidge’s emotions, he seems to be someone deserving of her adulation,” She asked eagerly.

“Well,” Allura trailed nervously, her eyes darting through the crowd in the hope of locating Pidge, “he’s a bit abrasive, but he has a good heart. He’s a lot like her, in the sense that they both like their privacy, which is probably why they get along so well.”

Maia hummed thoughtfully, lifting one hand to wave eagerly when Kolivan and Keith spotted their approach from the corner of their eyes. She carefully detangled herself from Allura once they reached them, taking the second to offer a polite bow to them. “Greetings, both of you. I have wanted to offer a proper thank you for your assistance in securing our home for this evening in person,” She said.

Kolivan offered a small smile and imitated her bow. “It is our pleasure, Your Highness,” He said.

Maia nodded before glancing over at Allura. “Blue Paladin, would you be so kind as to see if one of the other Paladin’s would be willing to do a guard post swap with you? I’m sure you’re rather tired of following me along and I’d love the chance to speak with each of you in turn,” She said happily.

“Of course,” Allura said, hoping that her smile and tone didn’t sound too stiff. This was the request they had agreed upon in order for their plan to work. Pidge wouldn’t be able to escape being around Keith if it was for the sake of the mission. And Shiro had made it clear that each Paladin take a turn guarding the princess herself. With everyone scattered as they were, none of them should notice how brief her stint beside the princess actually was.

It was a rather impressive plan, Allura had to admit.

“You two are okay with looking after her in the meanwhile, right?” Allura asked, waving lightly before scampering off without even waiting for the answer.

Keith made a vague noise of approval, lifting his head to size Maia up properly. She didn’t miss how his gaze lingered on the markings of her power on her arms. “You have the same marks on your arms as the queen,” He commented.

Maia beamed at him and nodded, lifting one hand to gently stroke one of Squire’s chubby cheeks with her finger tip. “This is the sign that, just like Mother, I have the powers of empathy. These marks are the indicator that I can channel another person’s energy through myself and translate what their feelings are. For now, I’m still in training, but so long as the person I am doing a reading on is thinking of a specific subject or person, I can get a rather precise reading of them. Would you like me to prove as much?” She kept her smile and tone bright, betraying nothing of her gambit, as she offered one hand to the young Blade member. Sensing what was to happen, Squire carefully hopped from his perch and scurried off to pilfer some treats from the food stand.

He eyed her hand cautiously before taking it. At first, she was unable to pick up anything specific, other than that he felt uncomfortable and crowded in the current setting. “So, what exactly should I do?” He asked.

“Think about someone or something specific, so I can get a proper reading on what you feel,” She mused lightly, closing her eyes and beginning to actively probe. For a while it was just foggy and vague, but then he seemed to hone in on a subject. On the surface, he was riddled with confusion and frustration. Something was putting a wedge between he and the subject but he wasn’t sure what. Underneath that, there was fear and betrayal; the fear and betrayal both stemming from a belief that he was, or had been, replaced. There was also a sense of confusion as to what, exactly, his feelings for this person actually were, but the falsehood of that emotion was easy to piece together with a little more probing. Beneath the confusion, in a part of him that may be subconscious, there was a sense of fear over conflicting feelings towards them. On one hand, it seemed that Keith wanted to spend more time with this person and reach out to them, to be transparent with one another. The fearful part of him, though, reared its head like a charge animal and snarled fierce that it would be fruitless.

He felt this person was important to him but also felt he wasn’t important to them in the same way.

Maia slowly opened her eyes to look at Keith, a sense of dread settling into her belly. He clearly had a deep affection for whomever he was thinking about, which could end up sabotaging the plans that she and Allura had. It, she realized, could end up breaking the Green Paladin’s heart. She knew she’d be unable to keep the truth to herself; after all, in this situation, she’d want to know the truth herself. She slowly opened her eyes and fixed her gaze on him, her brow knitting slightly. “Are you sure you don’t know what these feelings you have are?” She asked quietly, her voice just above a whisper.

His eyes widened at her words, indigo eyes shifting from her to whoever he was looking at, panic clear as day.

“Oh, calm down. I’m not here to pick a fight,” Pidge grumbled as she approached, holding two fluted glasses. She offered one to Maia before taking a small sip of her own. “Hmm. Not half bad for an alien punch.”

Maia didn’t even try to hide the smile that turned up on her lips, looking from Keith to Pidge happily. She could tell by how tense he got that he knew that she knew it was the Paladin he’d been gawking at during her reading. She tightened her grip on his hand, sensing that he planned to politely sneak it away and try to flee. She took a sip of her drink before offering it to Kolivan. “Would you be so kind as to hold this for me for a moment?”

He looked a touch confused but nodded, carefully taking the flute from her. With her hand freed, she turned her attention back to Keith and Pidge. “You two seem to be having some kind of difficulty in your relationship, I hear,” She said calmly, trying to take advantage of Pidge’s distracted state to get a hold of her other hand.

The other was quick, though. Her gaze shifted from Maia, looking ready to tear into her for trying to involve herself, before her eyes locked on Keith’s hand still clutched by the princess. She shifted, moving to take a step back in preparation for her escape. “Whatever you’re trying to do,  _don’t_!” She seethed lowly.

“This is going to be a good thing, I promise!” Maia huffed back, determined, and seized up the other’s wrist instead. The grip wasn’t ideal, but it would work well enough. “Just let me help you!”

“I don’t  _need_  any help with this!” Pidge snapped back.

“Yes, you  _do_!” Maia yelled back, tightening her grip and kicking up her power on accident. If she wasn’t focused on her targets, then her ability to channel was a bit off-kilter, as she had learned many times before. If she was too focused on one, all that happened was a one-way transfer of the most basic reading of emotion. Keith and Pidge both visibly froze as they realized what was happening, the odd warm sensation that Maia’s powers caused coursing through both of them and laying everything at their feet.

Well, at one of theirs feet; specifically, Pidge’s feelings at Keith’s feet.

It was a whole minute of silence before Maia was able to compose herself enough to try and correct the flow of the channel, but it was also enough time for Pidge’s brain to catch back up with what was happening. At first, in her shock and horror and embarrassment, she dropped her drink, the glass shattering on the polished tile with the sound of a warning alarm blaring. Conversations around them died down significantly, eyes turning to gawk at them, and the embarrassment and horror grew stronger in Pidge as she looked around frantically. She yanked free of the other young woman’s grasp and staggered back a few steps. “ _What_  did you  _do_?” She shouted, clutching her hand to her chest as if she’d been hurt.

She was more just yelling because she didn’t know what else to do, what else to say.

Maia shrunk in a bit, holding her own hands up defensively. An anxious glance around showed that a much wider circle of intrigue had been made, growing as the commotion itself grew louder. “I-It’s okay, Green Paladin, this is an easy fix. Just let me open the channel the other way and it’ll all make sense,” She insisted, trying to calm the other back down.

“Pidge,” Keith said suddenly, his voice quiet and somber, both women turning to face him.

Pidge’s eyes widened a bit at how he watched her, with eyes that were soft and gentle with what she could only label as pity. Her stomach roiled in discomfort, her face growing hotter with a shameful flush. She said nothing before turning and darting towards the double doors leading out of the grand hall. “Ah, Pidge, wait!” Maia called, moving to go after her. She then stopped and wheeled around to pin Keith with a displeased scowl. “Why did you have to do  _that_?”

He blinked, bewildered, then scowled in return. “ _Excuse_  me?  _You’re_  the one who used her weird powers to do whatever it is you just did!” He accused.

Maia opened her mouth to respond when she heard an intrigued hum from behind her, familiar and chilling, and instead clamped her mouth shut. “Yes, Maia, what  _did_ you do, hmm?”

She slowly turned, lifting her gaze to meet the disapproving frowns of her parents. “Momma… Mother,” She said uneasily, her gaze shifting from each of them in turn.

“What’s going on over here? Is everything okay?” Shiro asked as he walked over, Coran and the other Paladins a few steps behind him. Keith noted that Allura bore a similar look on her face as Princess

“This is my fault,” Maia said quietly, wringing her hands uneasily. She glanced over at Keith, who still seemed surprised and muddled about what had happened. “I meant to do a transference of emotion between the two of them, in hopes of opening the channel of communication between them to discuss their mirrored emotional conflicts, but it didn’t go well. She seemed to know that something was going to happen and tried to run off but I wouldn’t let her. I only ended up transferring Pidge’s emotions to Keith. And she was far from happy about that and ran off.”

“Maia, you know you aren’t supposed to be using that technique yet. You haven’t gained a high enough level of control to complete the transfer properly; especially in a situation where you yourself are not completely composed,” Queen Simona said, her tone firm but otherwise composed.

“I’m so sorry about all of this,” The other queen said as she turned to the Paladins and two Blade members, seeming a bit frantic over it all.

“It’s not your fault, Queen Adalyn,” Shiro said.

“Especially since I doubt she was acting alone, Your Highness,” Coran chimed, casting a firm glance over his shoulder at Allura. The other jumped a bit in surprise before glancing down at where she was tapping the tiles on the floor with the toe of her Paladin boot.

“I just wanted to help, but I’ve only made things worse,” Maia mumbled softly.

Queen Simona sighed and looked over at Shiro. “I apologize for this, sincerely,”

“I’ll see if I can’t get her to come back. She should still have the communication device on her helmet switched on,” He explained with a small sigh, shifting away to try and reach her.

While he did that, Keith turned to look over at the other Paladins. “Poor Pidge. She must be really embarrassed,” Hunk said worriedly.

Keith opened his mouth to say something when Lance snorted. “Well, can you  _blame_  her? Who  _wouldn’t_  be embarrassed about having a crush on  _Keith_?”

“ _Lance_!” Allura seethed, pinning him with a glare.

“ _What_? I’m just telling the truth!” He argued.

“She isn’t answering the comms. Which means she’s either turned the comms off, or removed her helmet,” Shiro said with a small sigh.

Simona nodded. “I’ll get in touch with Giselle. Her cameras should grant her a full reign of the territory of the castle. So long as she hasn’t gone running into town, we should be able to track her down,” She said, carefully lifting the skirt of her dress to head off. She briefly glanced at the shattered glass and drink on the floor, thankfully unperturbed since its fall. “And I’ll see about having that cleaned up, to avoid any potential slips or injuries.”

“I’ll go with you,” Shiro insisted politely. He paused briefly to stick the remaining three Paladins and Blade rookie with a stern look. “And I expect the rest of you to stay put; especially you two, Keith, Allura. We’re going to put this matter to bed the minute we find Pidge.” And, with that, he turned and followed after the queen to begin the search.

“Ugh, this is  _so unfair_!” Lance whined, tilting his head back and setting one hand on his hips.

“I truly am sorry, to all of you. I hadn’t meant to cause this evening to go this way,” Maia chimed again, her whole figure slumped in defeat.

Hunk tried to offer her a reassuring smile, gently patting one of her shoulders. “Hey, it’s okay. We’ve all made mistakes at big, celebratory gatherings like this,” He said.

Keith turned away from them, his gaze flickering to the balcony in longing. Would stepping out there be against Shiro’s orders? Did he even have to really listen to Shiro, considering he was no longer an official member of Team Voltron? Kolivan offered him the untouched flute of punch that Maia had given him a few minutes before. “Take a moment to clear your head out there. If Shiro returns before you, I’ll inform him I ordered you to do a quick check for any intruders out there,” He said evenly.

“Thanks,” Keith said, unable to muster up a smile but hoping that the gratitude still made it through. After receiving a quick nod of acknowledgement, he slipped past the gently billowing curtains and out into the brisk night air. He stepped out until he reached the stone railing of the balcony. Once there, he rested one arm against the railing to lean out and see the gardens better. They’d been lit by floating paper lanterns and cast an almost ethereal glow on the fauna below. Though, he realized, that perhaps that was simply because this world really was drastically different than Earth, even with all the similarities?

Sometimes he wasn’t sure, what with how much traveling they did through space. He typically left debates like that to Pidge. Whenever he’d encountered something like this before, he could say it outright to her, and for the next hour or two, she would be off. She would take what he was pondering and take it to new heights and levels of intrigue that he’d never consider on his own. Sometimes he’d lose track of what she was saying or how she’d gotten to the tangent she was on, but it was nice, just listening to her wax poetic-science about the specifics of his queries.

He took a quick sip of his drink, humming a bit at the taste. It reminded him of spiced apple cider.

He wondered if Pidge would agree with him on that thought. They’d once argued about whether the Gugu Juice from the planet of Yasarut tasted like blueberries and pomegranate or blackberries and pomegranate. He took another sip and turned the thought over, analyzing his relationship with Pidge and how he appreciated the natural simplicity of it. There was no need to try and present himself in a specific light with her. He could let the walls down and simply toss out any random thought he had without the risk of scrutiny or mockery.

He didn’t have to be Keith, the rejected Garrison cadet known for being a loner.

He didn’t have to be Keith, the ace pilot and ex-Paladin of Voltron.

He didn’t have to be Keith, the rebellious Blade of Marmora rookie.

He could just be Keith, no pretense or context.

He took another sip and fought back a sigh. In the end, developing feelings for Pidge made sense, the more he thought about it. Very few of the people he’d encountered ever allowed him to be so authentically himself before. His father had, within reason, of course; and, in the same vein, so did Shiro. Pidge never expected Keith to be or do more than he ever felt comfortable with. There was something about the ease of their relationship that felt like the first gulp of water after traversing the desert for many hours. But, with that freedom came the stifling fear that Keith would lose her just like he lost everyone that ever meant so much to him before. So he stashed his feelings under layers of fear and befuddlement, as a way to never have to acknowledge or act upon them.

That, he realized, wasn’t going to work anymore, though. Knowing the thoughts that were rattling around in Pidge’s head cleared things up for him. He know understood why she’d been so hostile about the scar he’d gotten from his latest Blade mission. The situation at current was far from ideal for either of them, but it left him feeling a need to face the truth wholeheartedly. Even if she ended up telling him off, proclaiming that it was just a crush and he was reading too much into it, he still wanted to have that conversation. He didn’t want to keep lying about his own stance on it, regardless of how much it would hurt to be rejected. He noticed motion across the garden from himself, by a large tree near the small waterfall.

There, huddled in close to herself, sat Pidge. Her helmet had rolled a few feet away and her face was hidden between her knees and crossed arms.

He stole a glance over his shoulder and, upon confirming that Kolivan was preoccupied with talking with Queen Adalyn, set his half-downed flute down on the balcony and hopped over the railing.

It wasn’t a particularly steep drop, and even then Keith had been smart about going down in stages to avoid injury. He navigated himself carefully, managing to make it to the small bridge in decent time and coming to a halt right after he crossed it. He could still see Pidge’s figure, but he could see her better now. The slight shake of her shoulders told him that she was either trying to fight back tears or was simply trying to mask that she’d surrendered. Approaching her now would most likely end with her cursing him out and threatening to tazz him with her bayard, depending on how he decided to go about it.

He took a deep breath before taking the final few steps towards her, stopping when there was a wide enough girth between them that she should – hopefully – feel unthreatened. “I’m sorry,” He blurted without thinking. She stilled and tensed, one of her hands shifting towards her face. He waited a moment longer, but when she didn’t start talking or move to run away, he decided to press things further. “And, I mean… I know that it isn’t ideal, but it could be worse. It could be Lance that you have a crush on.” He offered.

Her head shot up at that and he froze under the incredulous look on her face.

“Okay, bad example, I should have thought about that better,” He admitted, holding his hands up defensively, “but I think my main point is still kinda fair. I mean, I get it. I’m not the guy people think of when they think about people to have a crush on. And, yeah, that’s something I can totally understand. I know who I am and… I can understand why it’d be embarrassing to have an interest in someone like me. I’m not exactly good with people, and I’m way too impulsive, but I just… I wanted to say that I feel something like that for you, too. And I’m not really sure what caused you to end up liking me like that, but I’m really sorry that you’ve had to deal with those feelings.”

“What?” Pidge asked with a small laugh, carefully unfurling herself and cocking her head. The laugh had been mirthless and there was confusion on her face, which at least helped to soothe him a bit. She wasn’t being malicious about it, at least.

“That’s why you ran off, and I understand,”

“Why do you think I ran off?” She asked curiously, slowly pushing herself upright. He couldn’t read the look in her eyes as she settled on her feet and something about it made him uneasy.

Transparency with one another was kind of their thing. Or, rather, he’d always considered it to be there thing.

“Because you were embarrassed about having a crush on me,” He said bluntly, as if it should be absolutely obvious.

She shifted and began to walk towards him. “Well, you’re half right,” She said calmly. She stopped a few feet from him, brow knitting in confusion. She glanced briefly at the waterfall, nibbling a bit on her lower lip like she always did when she was turning over a confusion thought, then looked back up at him. “What did you get from Princess Maia, exactly?”

He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “I got that you have a crush on me, that you’re mad at me, that you were embarrassed and horrified about the whole crush thing-!”

“Wait, what?”

“I could literally sense your feelings because of Maia, Pidge; you don’t need to pretend,” He said, wincing a bit and averting his gaze. This whole thing was starting to enter the point of discomfort and, not for the first time, he found himself cursing his impulsive nature.

“Is  _that_  what you thought those feelings were about?” She asked, and this time when she laughed it felt a bit more genuine.

He screwed his eyes shut, not wanting to look back at her. “Well, excuse me for piecing things together with what I had! You don’t need to make fun of me because of it!”

“Look, Keith, you’re-!”

“I already know what you’re going to say, Pidge! I only came over here so that I could say my piece so that we could move forward from this!” He snapped, still refusing to open his eyes. He felt like if he looked at her, if he saw the mocking delight that he was sure was in her face, their relationship could never resume any sense of what they’d had before. He didn’t want to lose Pidge as a friend, didn’t want to lose that easy companionship. He could pushing his feelings up the hill to get over them if they were out in the open, he was sure, but he wasn’t sure if he could if he saw the jeering look on her face.

But then there was a set of suit-covered hands on his cheeks, the warmth of her palms still managing to reach him through the material. His eyes snapped open and he finally turned to face her. There was no malice or mockery in her eyes, surprising as that was. She looked a little exasperated, but there was something softer paired with him, something he was a bit too scared to name. Her hands slide down, sliding from either side of his face to either side of his neck.

He could feel his own pulse thrumming like made, as if his blood was kerosene touched by a lit match.

Pidge shifted, pressing herself up on tip-toes and looping her arms around his shoulders. Her head just skirted past his, shifting to rest her head against the side of his. “I was embarrassed because I didn’t want you to know how I felt yet; not because I was embarrassed about how I felt, you doof,” She said with a small laugh. She gave him a small squeeze. “I ran off because the way you looked at me after the transfer… It looked like you were pitying me.”

He blinked then, slowly so she could stop him if she wanted to, looped his arms around her as well, settling his hands between her shoulder blades and the middle of her back respectively. “It was pity, but not directed at you; it was just pity that we’d both had kinda similar feelings and had wasted a lot of time not talking about it. Why didn’t you want me to know yet?”

“Because… It’s complicated, you know? It’d be complicated if we decided to pursue a relationship, and it’d be complicated if we decided not to, and just… I didn’t want to have to deal with it. At least not yet,” She said quietly, slumping a bit. He could tell she was feeling exhausted by the events, which was unsurprising. He was feeling pretty worn out himself.

“We could find a way. I mean, find a way to make it a little less complicated,” He mumbled, closing his eyes a bit.

She let out a small hum and he quashed the disappointment at how disbelieving it sounded. “I’m not so sure,”

“But can we at least try? Try to figure something out?” He pressed quietly.

“I don’t know. Maybe? Yes? Let me think for a little bit, okay?” She prompted, seeming just as thrown as he was. But he was fine with that, he figured. Perhaps they could as Queen Simona to help them figure out their compromise before they left.


	40. Yippin' and Yappin'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Halloween KidgeFest 2018 Day 2 Prompt Fill. It’s the first year the Kogane’s will be cerebrating Halloween with a baby in the house, which is an exciting occasion. The problem, however, becomes coming to an agreement on what type of costume their little girl should wear to go trick-or-treating.
> 
> Allurance and Hunay included in this chapter.

“ _No_ ,”

“This is literally the  _fourth_  suggestion I’ve made that you’ve turned down! Come on, Pidge, she’d be  _so cute_!” Exasperated, he swiveled around and held the laptop screen up so his wife could see it better. The deadpanned look she gave him would have weakened the resolve of a weaker man. “Look at the puffy little hat! And the trim of the face glows in the dark!”

“I told you before you started looking that there was no way we are dressing Amber up as a pumpkin for Halloween!” She huffed back, adjusting the little tot in her arms just as a tiny hand made a mad grab for the edge of her glasses. She looked down at her grinning daughter with a small grin of her own. “You’re a sneaky little thing, aren’t you? Trying to take Mommy’s glasses and slobber all over them! Think I don’t see you, huh?”

Amber’s response was to let out a loud excited squeal.

“What do you even have against pumpkin costumes, anyway?” Keith asked with a small sigh as he set his laptop aside.

“ _Everyone_  dresses their baby up as a pumpkin for their first Halloween,” She said, glancing away from Amber briefly to look back at him. She then tipped her head back and laughed in delight as the baby made another swipe for her mother’s glasses.

“You’re exaggerating,” He scoffed, rolling his eyes at her.

“Oh, is  _that_  what you think? Allow me to prove you wrong,” She said, her tone slipping into that maliciously arrogant area that it did when she was about to completely ruin someone’s day. He opened his mouth to say something in response when suddenly a small set of baby feet were swaying right next to the left side of his face. “Here, take this so that I can get on that.” She said, indicating the laptop with Amber’s wiggling feet.

He laughed but reached up to take Amber. He careful spun her around so that she was facing him, laughing at how her eyebrows shot up in shock at seeing him up close. “Changing places on you, huh?” He laughed before moving to place his feet on the edge of the coffee table and prop her up in a pseudo-sitting position with her back against his thighs. Pidge stepped over him to take the spot beside him on the couch. While she loaded up whatever it was she planned to use to disprove his claims, Keith leaned down and pretended to nibble on their daughter’s chubby little legs, delighting in the enthused shrieks his actions earned.

After a moment, Pidge had opened up her Spacebook feed and started scrolling through. Within seconds, Keith started to see what she was talking about.

Of the 33 other first-time mother’s in the local breastfeeding group that Pidge had joined after having Amber, a startling 21 of them were dressing their newborns up as pumpkins for the upcoming festivities. She then checked what was trending with intergalactic parents as well, since some planets had decided to partake in the Earthly tradition, and tons of the parents there were doing pumpkin babies as well. Her point was already made, but he knew she wasn’t satisfied until she’d drive the point straight to the core of the Earth. She then shifted over to their immediate circle of friends and he was further stunned to see that both Alfor, Allura and Lance’s son, and Richter, Hunk and Shay’s son, were also being dressed up as pumpkins. Lance and Allura, though, were planning on it being a family costume, with Alfor as a little pumpkin and his parents going as farmers.

They agreed what the McClain’s were doing was cute, but Pidge’s point had been made; pumpkin costumes were a cliché.

“Well, what should we do instead?” Keith asked with a small sigh, picking Amber up and holding her above his head. She grinned at him, toothless and delighted, and he couldn’t help but smile back. “You said no pumpkins, but you also turned down the ghost and the mummy costumes I suggested.” He glanced at his wife from the corner of his eye as he spoke before focusing on making funny faces to make their baby laugh.

“And I actually really loved that butterfly costume, but they didn’t have that one in her size,” She lamented, setting the laptop on the coffee table. “Additionally, did we want to do a family costume this year?”

He shrugged then looked over at her. “I’m open to it if you want to,” He said.

“I think that’d be really cute, since it’s our first real Halloween as a family. I mean, last year I was still recovering from her actually being born, so doing anything festive was out of the question,” She said, looking over just as Amber turned her head to look at her Mommy. She waggled her finger at their little girl, letting out short snorts at the loud shriek she received, then perked up in surprise when a fluffy head suddenly flopped into her lap. “Oh, that’s why she got so excited. Hello there, Mr. Cosmo. It’s probably almost dinner time for you, huh?” She mused, reaching down to scratch behind one fluffy ear.

The cobalt wolf lifted his head to let out a quiet little half-howl in response.

“Okay, buddy,” Pidge said, gently nudging him off so she could stand, “I’m getting up. I guess we should probably figure out what we’re gonna have for dinner too, huh?”

“Hmm,” Keith agreed, carefully setting Amber back down to sit in his lap, the same way she’d been sitting before. Cosmo walked over, leaning his snout closer to lightly sniff at Amber. Her golden eyes shined bright as the little tot squirmed and shifted to try and make a grab for the wolf, nearly rolling right out of her father’s lap and only being saved by him catching her. “You’re a squirmy wormy today, aren’t you?” He laughed before carefully picking her up and holding her up with one arm. He then patted the spot beside him on the couch and Cosmo hopped up eagerly, carefully shifting so that he was in the reach of the excitedly babbling infant. “Remember, baby girl, we pet our fluffy friends  _gently_.” He cooed softly.

He chuckled a bit as the wolf closed his eyes, allowing the small tot to smack her hand on the top of his head. It wasn’t exactly petting, but it was the closest she could get and she also wasn’t being violent. He always appreciated that Cosmo seemed to understand that she was a bit too small to really understand how to properly pet and appreciate the best she could do.

Watching them, a thought suddenly occurred to him. When Pidge stepped out to let Cosmo know there was a fresh can of wet food in his bowl, she was startled by her daughter being held up towards her, tiny feet resting on her Daddy’s head. “Here, take this. I just had a brilliant idea,” He said.

She laughed but took Amber anyway, settling the little girl on her hip, out of the reach of her face. “I’m playing the smart way this time, lil’ miss,” She teased happily. She turned her attention back to Cosmo and let out a small whistle. “Come on, big boy. Chow time.”

Cosmo perked up before teleporting right beside her and allowing her to lead him to where his food and water dishes were. Pidge gave him another quick pat – and let Amber give him one as well – before heading back to the living room. When she walked over, Keith had turned the laptop screen to face her, a smug grin of his own on his lips. “How about this one?”

Her eyes widened before she glanced back over at him. “They have it in her size?”

“Only five left, but I can set it up for pickup right now,” He said. He then indicated the both of them. “Plus, I have an idea for a family costume we could do pretty easily.”

“Oh ho? And what, may I ask, inspired this?” She teased.

“Honestly, it was Cosmo. He seems to be a pretty good source of inspiration. How do you feel about fairy tales?”

“I’m open to the idea. First, though, get that costume ordered so we don’t miss out. Then we can figure out dinner, and discuss out plans from there,” She mused lightly.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

The sun was just barely beginning to disappear as the cars started rolling up to the park. Some older kids were running here and there, decked out in their full costumes and eagerly play-fighting in accordance to their respective outfits. There was a small area of picnic tables under a little ramada nearby, where some of the younger children were congregated with their parents.

“Aw, Richter looks so cute!” Allura cooed happily at the little boy bouncing in his father’s arms.

“Thanks! Though, I will admit, it was a bit hard to adjust the seam of the costume to account for his tail,” Hunk laughed. He then looked over at the infant Shay was gently bouncing, who was happily babbling around a mouthful of said tail.

Lance chuckled, carefully adjusting the straw hat on his head to look around, the other settled on the back of his son, dozing off from his position strapped to his chest in a baby sling. “Are we just waiting on the Mullet Clan?”

“We’ve been here a while. You just couldn’t see around the brim of your big, doofy hat,” Pidge chimed, a smug grin on her lips as she approached. Then, seeming to think better of it, she indicated his hat with one hand. “Nice hat, by the way.”

Lance harrumped at her, adjusting his hat again and raising an eyebrow at her. “So… What, exactly, are you supposed to be?” He asked.

Pidge preened at him. “Oh, I’m the Huntress of the forest,” She beamed, indicating the leather belt and fake axe on her hip.

Keith slid up beside her, pushing a stroller. He was wearing a bright red hooded sweater and had a plastic pumpkin-shaped goody basket hanging from one arm. “And I’m Red Riding Hoodie,” He said, waving one hand.

Pidge then leaned down to the stroller, fiddling with the straps to carefully pull out and present their daughter, decked out in a fluffy, grey costume of her own. “And this is our Petite Sweet Wolf!” She beamed.

Amber looked around at the other adults and infants, kicking her little feet in the open air. This revealed little pink paw pad marking on the bottoms of the fabric covering her toes. Immediately, the other parents cooed over her as Pidge stepped closer, eagerly engaging with the others and their babies as well.

Keith grinned as he walked over at well, reaching to take Amber from Pidge, the little girl peeking over her mother’s shoulder to make faces at him. The little costume was ridiculously soft, with the head of the piece having so much fur that the little tips of the ears were near-invisible. The little bottom of the costume completely covered her little feet, but her hands were left exposed, allowing her to eagerly reach out towards Alfor as Lance approached him. “Wasn’t expecting a fairy tale theme from you guys,” He remarked as he reached them.

Alfor had perked back up a little, blinking blue eyes blearily at the world around him. “Well, once we picked out her costume, we just kind of figured our out pretty easily from there,” He mused, adjusting his hold on his daughter so that she was closer to one of her little friends while he chatted amicably with the other man.

Seeing as he was in her reach, Amber reached out, took a handful of his pumpkin hat, and yanked it right off. Alfor stared at her, completely stunned, as she looked from him, back to the hat, and then moved to put it in her mouth. This resulted in him releasing a piercing wail of displeasure. All he adults jumped and looked over, Keith narrowly managing to yank the hat free of Amber’s little hands before it could make contact with her mouth.

Lance scowled at him while he sheepishly offered it back. “Uh, sorry. She’s at that age where everything has to be examined by her mouth,” Keith explained.

The other huffed a bit, taking the hat and fitting it back over his son’s head and trying to soothe him. Allura offered an understanding smile to Keith. “Since the children are getting restless, I believe we should start doing this tricking and treating, correct?” She asked.

“Yeah,” Keith agreed, turning to look at Pidge as walked over to join him. The others started to corral their little group towards the other end of the ramada area while he tilted his head to whisper to Pidge. “Okay, I just need to say; I’m glad I listened to you about the costume.”

“Oh yeah?” She asked as she carefully folded up their stroller and tossed the carrying strap over one shoulder.

“Yeah. That hat barely fits on Alfor’s head with how easily Amber yanked it off. The wolf cub hood fits on her perfectly, though,” He said, holding Amber up to press a kiss to her nose.

She squealed and pinched at his cheeks eagerly, earning another laugh from Pidge as they made their way to join the others.


	41. Trial of Courage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Halloween KidgeFest 2018 Day 3 Prompt Fill. Just some more fun, cute fluff featuring the Kidgelings and an incredibly spooky haunted house.
> 
> Allurance and Hunay included in this chapter.

They had walked past this house many times over the years. On a normal day, it was just a nice house where a nice old couple lived. But on one night a year, it became something completely different. On this night every year, it seemed to grow to be two times its normal size, looming over the rest of the quaintly decorated neighborhood. There were dim lights all around the house, in varying shades of dark purple, red, and orange, casting odd shadows here and there. The windows of the second floor of the house were covered with wooden boards. It looked like on the windows had been smashed up, too.

Rumors flee from the house, about ghosts haunting the place that got real restless on Halloween. The legends said that Joey Thornton, the son of the couple who lived there, had summoned a demon that threw him out the window. Because of his violent death, and the deal he made with the demon, every Halloween, the house became cursed by Joey’s spirit. He spent all of Halloween chasing naughty children out of the house. And they said that if you dared to venture into his old room, the demon itself would come after you.

A shudder ran through him at the thought, reaching up to yank his ninja hood more firmly over his head.

There were a few people milling about out front, chatting quietly, and the front door was propped open. There wasn’t a lot of light inside, just a flickering strobe effect visible through what little he could make out of the entryway.. He gulped as a dark figure loomed in the flickering light, the movements jerky and disconcerting, but then released it when he realized that with was just Donald, the Thornton’s wayward pet cat.

They’d never crossed the street to enter the Thornton’s house before. But, this year, things were different.

“Full. Sized. Candy bars, Amber!” Alfor declared, his words a bit muffled by the thick white bread he was sporting.

Amber cocked her head curiously, tilting the wide brim of her pirate hat up and out of her eyes. “Oh yeah? And how do you know that?” She asked, but her gaze stayed on the house.

“Because that’s what Denny Ramirez told me!”

“You listened to  _Denny_? As in the same guy that got scared when Mrs. Kingston turned off the lights for that movie in class two weeks ago,” She laughed.

Alfor flushed a bit but glared at her. “Fine, if you don’t think you’re  _brave enough_  to do it-!”

“I’m  _more_  than brave enough,” She cut in, holding her plastic cutlass up and jabbing him in the chest with it, “I just want to make sure it’s worth the trek. I’ve heard some other kids say that all you get is a big ole’ popcorn ball.”

“And  _who_  said  _that_?”

“Carol Dickens,”

“ _Carol Dickens_! You believe  _her_  over  _Denny Ramirez_?”

“Considering  _she_  didn’t pee her pants when the classroom lights went dim? Uh,  _yeah_ , I do!”

The older boy threw one hand up before pointing his staff at her in retaliation. “Well, why don’t we go see for ourselves, then? And let’s make a bet out of it?”

Kaden could tell by how his sister’s eyes twinkled that she liked the sounds of this. “What are you thinking, exactly?”

“Winner gets five pieces of candy from the loser. Winner’s choice, of course,”

“Taking Reese’s and Butterfingers off the table, though,”

“Oh, no, they are very much  _staying on the table_! It’s the  _winner’s_ _choice_!  _Loser_ doesn’t get to go making demands,” He barked right in her face.

“You’re saying that as if you’ve  _already_  won,” She scoffed.

“Because I already  _have_ ,” He sneered back.

“Why are you two like this?” A third voice chimed, sounding an odd mix of exasperated and anxious. Then again, this was typical of Richter. He always seemed to think all the really cool, fun things that Amber and Alfor wanted to try were actually really scary.

Stealing another glance at the house, though, Kaden couldn’t help but think that maybe he was right this time.

“You’ve got some gall on you to think you can beat me and Kaden that easy,” Amber laughed, causing him to jerk to attention at his name. She reached out and gave his shoulder a small squeeze, flashing him a bright grin. “Ain’t that right, bro?”

Richter seemed to notice his uneasiness, looking from him to his sister. “Hey, Amber, this is between you and Alfor. If Kaden doesn’t want to go then –!”

“ _Who_  said I didn’t want to go? I’m  _just_ as brave as  _any_  of you big kids!” He huffed, whirling to pin the other with a glare. For a moment, his fear of the spooky house was forgotten. He was a Kogane and Kogane’s didn’t back down from a challenge, ever! Richter looked stunned by the response, but he merely sighed and shook his head at the four year old. He should have expected as much from Amber’s brother, really.

She was left preening at his response. “That’s right, Kaden! And when we show Alfie who was right, he’ll owe us each five pieces of candy!”

“Wait, we didn’t say five  _each_! It was five  _total_!”

“The rules of any  _proper_ candy bargain apply to any kid that has candy to throw into the ring, meaning that  _he’s_  included, too!” She harrumped, sticking her tongue out at him for added emphasis.

“She does have a point, you know. Those are the rules of candy bargain, as deemed by the fifth graders on the playground. And we all know that the fifth graders have this kind of stuff figured out,” Richter agreed with a nod.

Blue eyes narrowed and pinned him, causing him to flinch. “Fine. Wager stays the same, but Kaden gets to be in the pool. Can we get this started then?” He asked, pointing at the house with his staff.

Panic coursed through Kaden as he glanced back over, seeing what he could only call a horned silhouette in the smashed second floor window. “We need a grown-up to go over there!” He proclaimed suddenly, hoping that would be enough to maybe deter it all. He didn’t want to have to admit he was scared, because that wasn’t cool. His Mom and Dad and Amber were never afraid of anything, so he wasn’t going to be either!

At the same time, though, he really didn’t want to go into the creepy old house. Not tonight, anyway.

Amber and Alfor both stopped at the curb, looking from Kaden to each other. “Good catch. Mom and Dad would be really mad if we went to a house without one of them,” She said, shifting to approach her brother again.

“My Dad will definitely take me across the street, so it’s just on you,  _Kogoons_! Come on, Richie, let’s go ask your parents, too!” He blew a raspberry at Amber before turning his attention to the half Balmeran beside him.

“Who said I was going with you guys? You three are on your own!” Richter proclaimed in disbelief.

Amber blew a raspberry of her own in return before grabbing his arm and tugging insistently. “Come on, Kaden. Let’s go talk to Mom and Dad,” She huffed, practically dragging him to where their parents were gathered, a little farther up the street with their two younger siblings. He fell in line with her steps quickly, trying to ignore the way his stomach roiled in response.

Pidge was crouched in front of a stroller, shaking her head with a small laugh. “He’s out like a light,” She said, glancing up briefly at Keith.

He carefully pushed back the floppy dragon’s head of his costume so that he could see much easier. “Is he really? I mean, he’s wearing those goggles,” He pointed out.

She looked up at him with a small smile and held the swirly eyed-goggles up with one finger. “You question my ability to remove parts a costume from a snoozing toddler?” She teased, pushing herself up and grinning at the cooing baby strapped to her husband’s chest. Large green eyes were looking around at everything before her with wonder. “Newt was so excited to stay up late and play mad scientist, but in the end baby sister beat him out, huh?” She mused, reaching over to carefully pluck the tiara from her head.

Aria turned her head to stare at her mouth with her mouth wide open, as if shocked she’d dare to remove the piece of her costume, then let out a quiet squeak when an orange leaf fluttered past her instead.

“She’s probably enjoying all the sights and sounds. All kinds of new stuff for her,” He chuckled in agreement, perking up when he spotted the other two approaching. “Ah, and there’s the rest of our little ones. Ready to call it a night?”

“Actually, Daddy,” Amber mused, putting on her sweetest voice and smile, “can we just hit one more house before we go? Please?”

Keith’s brow knitted a bit. “Amber, sweetheart, you’ve already been to all the houses in this neighborhood. Plus, it’s getting late and we should be heading home,”

“We  _haven’t_  hit all the houses, though,” She said, pointing to the house across the street.

“Oh, the Thornton’s house. Looks great, like usual,” Pidge mumbled to herself. The Thornton family had always been fond of Halloween, as she learned after having a conversation with Angie Thornton when they went out for Amber’s first Halloween all those years ago. Angie informed her that while they’d always loved the holiday, they really started amping up their game up about a decade ago. There had been an accident while Joey and his father, Frankie, were putting up decorations that, despite Joey only suffering some minors cuts from broken glass, had grown bigger and bigger because of his friends to the point that an urban legend had been started by the older kids to scare the younger ones. The fact that Joey had been a high school senior and then been a dorm student at the university in the town had only worked to their advantage. Every Halloween, he came back and dressed up like a ghost to help his parents run a haunted house that did pretty well at startling all the kids under the age of twelve.

Which, she realized, was probably part of the reason her daughter was so interested in it now.

“Hmm. I don’t know. You might still be too young for the haunted house,” Keith chimed worriedly. He knew that Frankie and Joey kept an eye out for how old the kids coming in were, and adjusted their behavior to accommodate, but he still tended to worry about exposing the kids to things too far from their comfort zone.

“Alfie’s Daddy is gonna take him to the haunted house,”

“Oh, well if  _Lance_  is totally cool with mentally scar his child, then I should be, too,” He said flatly, rolling his eyes a bit.

Pidge flashed him an exasperated look and lightly shoved his shoulder, but his dry joke still got a snort out of her. “Oh, be nice. Ari’s still doing well, and since Newt’s asleep anyway, I can take her over real fast while you watch the other three,”

“No, Mommy, Kaden’s coming with,” Amber chimed.

That gave her pause, as she looked from Amber to her older son. His gaze had flickered back to the house, eyes wide and glossy. Sensing eyes on him, he whipped around to look at his parents. The discomfort was clear in his face, but Pidge could also see the gleam of resolve. “Y-Yeah! I wanna go to the scary house, too!”

She and Keith exchanged glances, both of them knowing exactly what was going on. When she turned back he was still staring at her, clearly gearing himself up to argue about how he actually did want to go. She stole a glance over to see that Lance was approaching with Alfor, he and Amber already starting on another animated exchange of playground taunts. She was a bit relieved to see her distracted. While she appreciated how close the pair were despite the age gap between them, she sometimes worried how Amber’s control over her brother could be unknowingly used against him.

Pidge walked a bit closer and knelt down in front of her son, being careful of the long white coat of her own costume as she did. “Kaden, you can come with us to the spooky house if you want to. But you need to make me a promise, okay?” She asked, making sure to keep her voice gentle.

“What?” He mumbled.

“I want you to stay close and hold my hand real tight, okay? Mommy doesn’t really like going into spooky houses,” She said softly.

His eyes widened on her, disbelief obvious. “Really? But you’ve fought big scary monsters before! Nothing ever scares you or Daddy!”

She laughed and pulled him closer to her. “Sometimes we’ve had to push past our fear to help take care of each other or to help protect other people. And just because we’ve faced all those scary things before doesn’t mean Daddy and I still get scared sometimes. We get scared about bad things happen to you or your brother or your sisters. I know Daddy gets kinda scared if he’s stuck in tight spaces. And I get kinda scared of spooky houses. We can help keep each other safe while we’re in there, you and I,” She explained softly.

Kaden took a deep breath and nodded, indicating the handle of one of his toy katanas strapped to his back. “I’ll protect you, Mommy. No scary monsters are gonna get you, cause I have those,” He vowed, some of the fear in his own belly settling a bit, reaching over and taking her hand. She smiled and led him to join the other two kids. He squared his little shoulders and puffed his chest up a little, feeling much better about everything. Knowing that his Mommy and Daddy felt scared sometimes made him feel better, and he felt even better knowing that his Mommy didn’t like spooky houses, either.

If someone as brave and strong as his Mommy was afraid of it but was still willing to go in, then he could be too.


	42. Issues Requiring Tissues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Request fill from my Tumblr for an anon that read: i have a request! :3 hubby Keith taking care of sick Pidge (or vice versa bc i would love either scenario??)

Most nights in their home were pretty quiet. They’d get home, settle in, determine whose turn it was to make dinner, eat, and then continue their relaxing. It was shortly after dinner that Monday night, as he was finishing up the dishes, that she’d asked him if he’d mind making her a cup of hot tea with honey in it. He had been a bit baffled, but she had insisted that it was simply a matter of it being cold and the hot drink being a good way to warm herself back up.

Keith, however, suspected that it was something else.

He was much more attentive than most people would have given him credit for, but he’d noticed the little things. Pidge had been having more trouble than usual getting up for work in the morning. Additionally, he’d noticed her popping Advil pills and chugging water. She looked quite a bit paler, too, and she had to clear her throat a bit between sentences.

Over the years, he’d caught on to the hints leading up to when his wife was starting to come down with sickness.

“Are you getting sick?” He asked as he gently set the cup down before her.

She looked up from her project and stared at him. “Why do you ask?”

“Because you normally only want tea with honey when you’re sick,” He said with a small frown. He watched her take a quick sip and the immediate relief that flashed over her face. “Specifically, because it helps soothe your throat. And that’s always how it starts for you. First your throat’s a little scratchy; then you get a headache, right between your eyes, but it always spreads; then you move on to sneezing, and then you go belly up with all three and coughing fits.”

“You’re over thinking things,” She mused, taking another sip. She then set the cup down and lightly tapped the monitor of her computer. “Besides, I can’t afford to get sick right now. I’ve got to have my designs for these medical bots ready before the end of the week.”

“Just because you can’t afford to get sick,” He said, leaning one hip against her desk and opting against pointing out the industrial-sized bag of cough drops in her laptop case, “doesn’t mean you won’t. Just make sure you pace yourself and don’t overdo it. I’m sure if you need an extension, Commander Iverson can find a way to make it happen for you.”

“Well, if I simply get everything done on time, I won’t have to worry about asking for an extension. Simple as that,” She said with a dismissive shrug before returning her attention to her work. “But thanks for making me the tea. It’s really good.”

He chose not to pick the fight with her, but as the week progressed, it was clear she was coming down with something. Every night she’d ask him to make her a cup of tea and he, because he knew she was a stubborn woman and wouldn’t be so easily dissuaded. He loved that about her, but sometimes he wished she’d keep in mind how such an approach could be detrimental to her health and well-being.

She started sneezing on Wednesday morning, but waved him off again and set a box of tissues on her desk. He managed to convince her to take a few immune system boosters, but she still wouldn’t concede on simply requesting an extension to nip the cold in the bud. Then, Thursday morning, her headaches had gotten significantly worse, and he could tell her fever was rising as well.

By the time Friday rolled around, her project was completed and ready for submission, but it was clear that the cold had won.

“I don’t know if I’m gonna be able to make it out alive, Kogane. If I die here, tell our puppers I loved them,” She huffed out before erupting in a bout of rough, harsh coughing. Bae Bae and Cosmo were curled up, snoozing at the foot of the bed. Bae Bae lifted her head and let out a quiet little whine, looking from Pidge to Keith, as if aware of her master’s words and asking for reassurance that she was just being dramatic.

He shook his head as he popped open the first aid kit and took out a small thermometer. He popped one of the little plastic cases over the actual testing portion, then held it towards Pidge. She didn’t fight taking it and tucking it under her tongue, coughing a bit but keeping her lips sealed. “Hmm. Your most heart-wrenching sick bed speech yet. I’m impressed with the technique,” He teased, waiting for the machine to beep. Once it did, he carefully checked the little screen and hummed, removing the thermometer from her mouth. “Well, just as I thought.”

“Tell it to me straight, doc; will I make it to Christmas?” She asked, moving to settle back down in the bed.

“You’ve got a pretty high fever. Stay here while I go get you some things, okay?” He said while clicking the plastic cover piece into the trash and returning the device to the kit.

“Wouldn’t move if I could, sweetheart,” She offered with a hazy, amused smile before hunkering down for another coughing fit.

He headed out to the linen closet and grabbed a small washcloth before heading downstairs to the kitchen. He popped some bread in the toaster. While that was heating up, he pulled out a little container of margarine and a carton of orange juice. He filled up a glass with juice, fished a package of cold medicine from the medicine cabinet, and then headed back over to the toaster just as it popped. He spread a small amount of the margarine on the toast, cut it in half, put everything away, set the packaged medicine capsules on the plate, and then grabbed the washcloth and cup of juice.

When he poked his head back into the room, Pidge had shifted to curl in on herself on her side, body spasming with her attempts to keep her coughing fits small. “Hey, do you think you can sit up?” He asked as he approached, setting the plate and cup on the small bedside table to help her.

“It’s a bit of a struggle, but I can,” She managed to wheeze out. He reached over, offering her one of his arms to help hoist herself up, but she waved him off and scooted back and up.

“I made you some toast, since it’ll be light on your stomach,” He explained, reaching back to reposition a pillow behind her for more support. He then picked the place back up and offered it to her. “And I used the margarine instead of regular butter, since dairy isn’t always the best thing to have when you’re sick.”

“You’re too kind,” She mused, taking a bite of the toast. He watched her as she nibbled at the toast, going slow and carefully. She hadn’t exhibited any vomiting or complained about nausea, but he figured that making things that were lighter on the stomach was a safer bet. When she was halfway done, he offered her the juice. “Here, drink.”

She took the glass and chug about half of it before resuming eating. While she finished eating, he disappeared in to the adjacent bathroom to get the washcloth wet. Once it was wet enough that it’d stay cool and damp for a decent amount of time without dripping everywhere, he headed back out. Pidge had her head tipped back, sipping the juice again, and he noticed one of the pills he’d brought in with him in her hands. “Thank you,” She sighed as she tipped her head forward again.

“I thought you’d appreciate that,” He chuckled as she plopped the other pill in her mouth and chased it down with the remaining swig of juice. Once she was done, he helped her slide back under the comforter. “I brought this for you, to help with the temperature thing.” He explained, gently pushing her bangs back so he could settled the folded washcloth over her forehead.

She let out a small whine at the feeling, but didn’t protest. He made sure that it was settled so that she could still see but that it’d do its job of keeping her cooled off. She offered him a small smile as she nestled down into the blankets and pillows. He sat on the edge of the bed beside her until she dozed off, occasionally moving the washcloth so he could lightly stroke her flushed cheeks with the towel to help with the cool down. Right before he left the room, he got the cloth wet again so that it’d be fine for a while yet, then took the dishes out with him.

He headed back downstairs and set to work. He logged into her laptop and double-checked her email to find a few from her boss, Admiral Sanchez, as well as Commander Iverson, asking where she was and how much longer she’d be. He responded on her behalf, explaining who he was and including the completed files for the medical bots she’d finished up. Commander Iverson responded first, stating that if Pidge needed extra time off to recover, to let him know. Then, Admiral Sanchez sent a response thanking Keith for sending the files along and asking him to let Pidge know he hoped she felt better soon.

With that done, Keith headed to finish up some minimal house work tasks. He folded up a load of towels, tidied up the dishes in the sink, then settled in and watched a bit of television. Once it got close enough, he got up and prepared a hot bowl of chicken noodle soup and some crackers for Pidge, pouring another glass of juice for her as well. When he took them up, she was blinking groggily into the room, her attention shifting from her clock to him. Bae Bae had moved to lay along Pidge’s back while Cosmo had also moved closer, draping himself across her calves. She looked between the two dogs and then back up at him. “I’m trapped,” She croaked out, voice crackling from the combination of sickness and disuse.

He chuckled and set the small tray on the bedside table. “Come on, you two. I know you’re worried and sharing your love to help make her feel better, but she needs to eat some food,” He chided gently, reaching over to lightly nudge each dog. Cosmo lifted his head and just stared at Keith, almost seeming defiant, before letting out a small huff and jumping down. Bae Bae took a bit more nudging to get off, to the point where Keith thought he’d have to actually lift her up, but she, too, got off. After a moment, she and Cosmo wandered out of the room and headed for the stairs. Keith didn’t feel the need to follow them. If they needed to go outside, Cosmo would teleport them both outside on his own.

He then reached over and helped Pidge slide into an upright position again, removing the cloth from her forehead and setting it aside. “Thank you,” She said softly.

He nodded as he grabbed the tray and set it across her lap. “It’s just some soup, but I figure it’ll be good. Oh, and I went ahead and emailed your completed files to Admiral Sanchez for you. He said that the designs should be fine and he hopes you feel better,” He said.

She blinked a bit, the last vestiges of grogginess starting to dissipate, and the stared at him. “You did that for me?” She breathed quietly.

“Of course. You ran yourself into the ground getting it done; I’m sure you’d be really upset if you didn’t even get it sent in on time,” He said with a small shrug. He had known there was no way she’d be able to get out of bed and, even if she tried, he’d be inclined to pushing her to stay in bed. She needed to get some rest so she could bounce back from the illness. But he also knew she’d be devastated if, because she was bed-bound, her project wasn’t submitted on time.

She offered him a small smile, shifting a bit on the bed. “Can you sit with me? I mean, you don’t have to lean super close or anything since I doubt you want to get sick, too,” She mumbled, grabbing a cracker from the tray and gently crushing it into the soup.

He shifted to sit beside her, staying on top of the covers but pressing his legs against hers. He also shifted so they were close enough that she could set her head on his shoulder if she decided. “You know it takes a lot more for me to get sick,” He pointed out.

“Keep bragging, Clark Kent. See where it gets you,” She said, tone just the slightest bit playful under the rasp, before pausing to cough into her elbow. He reached back and gave her back a light pat, wanting to help ease her through it. She offered him a small wince one the fit had subsided. “You’re a sweetheart, you know that?”

“It’s not like you haven’t done the same for me before,” He mused as she started to slurp down the soup. The medicine and rest were clearly already having a good impact for her, as even though it was still raspy, her voice was a bit clearer now. Additionally, the coughing fits weren’t nearly as sporadic as they’d been before.

“You’re a lot better at it than me, though,” She pointed out after a few minutes. He paused and shifted, gently draping arm around her and resting his chin on top of her head. “You seem like a big, gruff, bad boy ton everyone else… When really you’re just a total sweetie.” She took another few mouthfuls of soup in before sipping her juice, then looking up at him affectionately. “If you’re this soft with me, I can’t imagine how soft you’d be with a sick baby someday.”

He felt his cheeks flush a bit, but he tightened his grip and pulled her a little closer. How, indeed, he wondered.


	43. Piecing Things Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Request Fill after an self-indulgent question over on my Tumblr by an anon that read: Yes lesbian!Kidge please

Keira Kogane had to have pissed off some cosmic force in her lifetime, with what she was facing in that moment.

“I don’t see why you’re making such a big deal about this,” She said, crossing her arms and glaring at the figure before her, poised over a large box filled with clothes. Off to the side, she saw Shiro leaning against a wall and skimming through a magazine, seeming quite content to hand the reins over to another set of hands. She narrowed her eyes to flash him a half-hearted glare.

Filthy traitor, leaving her to fend for herself against the wolf.

She perked up as the other hoisted himself up, hands settled on either side of the box, flashing her a chiding look with his bright blue eyes. “Because, my poor, misguided friend,” He said before seeming to spot something in the box that he liked and diving back down, “a date is a big, big moment for a blossoming romance. And I can tell that your experience regarding romance is… Well, let’s just say it leaves a lot to be desired. Plus, gonna be honest, but your sense fashion could use a serious helping hand.” He pulled out a bright yellow and blue tube-style shirt and looked at her with a bright grin.

She made a face and, with a small huff, he cast the shirt over his shoulder and resumed his searching. Feeling a bit braver, she walked over and peered over his hunched form into the box, arms crossing on instinct over her chest. “What’s wrong with the way I dress?”

"Have you  _looked_  at your jacket recently? It looks like a poorly constructed matador cape!” He laughed, casting an incredulous look at her over his shoulder.

“It does not!” She snapped back.

“It totally does. Besides, it doesn’t fit you right anymore anyway. You need to update your fashion sense as well as your ensemble. Get something that actually fits,” He retorted, tone dismissive.

“I really like my jacket. It’s comfy and I can move really well in it. Who cares if it isn’t the height of fashion?” She asked, waving one hand in the arm as if to dismiss him in turn.

“ _Pidge will_ ,” Lance sang back, the smug look on his face causing her to flinch back.

It hadn’t been something she’d been planning to do, really, despite how badly she wanted to. In the weeks following their last huge fight against the strange Robeast that showed up on Earth, the Paladins hadn’t seen a whole lot of each other. Or, rather, Keira hadn’t seen too much of the others. Galra contained a slightly elevated healing rate than humans and, due to her own heritage as a Halfling, she’d been cleared to leave the medical bay much sooner than the others. And once she was cleared, Shiro and Commander Iverson had scooped her up to help with this or that, as well as to give statements to Earth and coalition-based media outlets about the situation as it stood.

It was in this time that she stood back and examined things. In specific, an interesting conversation she’d had with Iverson about missed opportunities was what caused her to decide she needed to act. She’d spent plenty of time sitting on her hands, quietly wondering if she even stood a chance if she were to put herself out there like that. After all, Pidge was basically living starlight; brilliant and vibrant and vivacious. She was loyal and intelligent and passionate. Oh, and how her eyes lit up when she got rambling about her latest research project!

And then Keira was just… Well, she was just a mopey, lonely sort that got stuck being the leader of the most powerful weapon the universes had to offer. She wasn’t the type of person that people like Pidge Gunderson, or Katie Holt or whoever she was took an interest in. But, when she’d dared to say as much outloud, Commander Iverson had cast a curious glance at her. “Not like you to give up without a fight, but it sounds like you’re ready to pull your hat out of the ring before it even touches the dirt. Not as brave as I gave you credit for, huh?” He said, tone near wistful.

And Keira, a creature of pride and impulsiveness, had stormed off to find the other young woman and ask her out.

She’d found Pidge by chance, heading to the hanger to check on the Lions with Hunk. Hunk, dear sweetheart that he was, had sensed the mood and excused himself. Keira had stumbled through her words, barely managing to get it out that she wanted to go out with Pidge. Just the two of them. On a date. She’d been startled when the shorter girl had actually flushed and looked away, everything about the gesture coy and nearly painfully cute, before lifting her head and nodding, still clearly embarrassed but also giddy.

“I’d love to,” She had breathed out, her voice a little wispy. The two had agreed to a few days later, when they were to have a free day to start milling about the rebuilt portions of town, and then parted. As she was heading back to her room, though, the reality of what she’d just done settled in and she was faced with another challenge.

Which was how she’d ended up where she was in that moment, wincing as she shifted her weight from foot to foot. “Do… Do you really think so?” She asked quietly.

There was suddenly a hand on her shoulder, causing her to look up at a smiling Shiro. “No, she won’t. Lance is just being Lance,” He said, calmly placing the shirt Lance had tossed aside back into the box. Lance groaned and shoved the shirt aside as he riffled through and pulled out a neon orange spaghetti strap thing. He set that one down beside the box; to offer to Allura or Romelle, Keira hoped. She then glanced back up at her mentor, taking his gentle squeeze as a way to get her attention. “Pidge wouldn’t have agreed to the date if she didn’t like you for you, Keira.” She blinked then smiled, feeling a bit more reassured, as Shiro reached into the box himself and pulled out a denim skirt. “Although I will concede, trying out a new outfit or two might be more worth it than you’re thinking.”

“If I may also add, Shiro” Lance mused happily as he turned to look at the two, “the outfit can help set the mood. I mean, you want to make it clear to Pidge that you’re interested in her. It’s why you asked her out in the first place, after all.”

“Well, yeah,” Keira said with a small scowl. She then cocked her head a bit. “But, shouldn’t the fact I specified it was a date be enough to get the point across?”

“A date and  _a date_  are two totally different things! You need to make sure to wear the right attire to get the differentiation clear!”

Keira frowned and glanced up at Shiro. Ever helpful, he simply shrugged and shook his head, as lost as she was. “O… Kay?” She trailed, turning her attention back to Lance.

“And you’re the one who asked me for help on picking an outfit, right?”

“Actually, you were eavesdropping when I was asking  _Shiro_  to help me. And then, as you’re prone to doing, decided that you just had to take over,”

“Eh. Tomato, tomatoe,” He huffed, waving a hand before grabbing a few items that he’d pulled to the edge of the box closest to him. “Now let’s see… Your usual color preferences are towards reds, blacks, and purples, from what I’ve seen. How do you feel about exploring and trying out some other ones?”

She knelt down beside him, peering in curiously. “As long as you go with darker shades, I’m open to going a little bit farther out of my norm. Oh, but I’m not big on patterns” She said. Lance nodded, taking three of the items in his grasp and setting them at the other end of the box. “And nothing that’s, like, super ruffly or frilly or has any kind of glossy material to it. No dresses or skirts, either. Oh, and nothing too revealing. Like, if I have to go with short sleeves, I’d rather have a coat or jacket or something to wear over it. And I’d really like to wear some boots. Or maybe just my usual boots would be fine.”

Lance dropped all the articles in his hand and let out a long, drawn-out groan.

Keira shifted back a bit. “Or… I guess just what looks good?”

Shiro settled in on Lance’s other side and shook his head as he started to look through the box as well. “No, Keira, this is good. You’re the one going on the date, not Lance. You should like what you wear and have final say on it,”

“Shiro’s right. I just wish you were a little more… Diverse in style,” Lance said, rummaging to the bottom of the box until he pulled out a pair of light blue denim shorts. “How about these high-waisted shorts? Pair these off with some nice, dark colored leggings, maybe?” He prompted.

She reached out and gently took the shorts, holding them up to her hips. The looked like they’d fit just fine. "I like these,” She said, offering him a small smile as she settled them in her lap.

He whooped and pumped one fist in the air. “There we go! I’ll take this little bit of progress!” He reached back in and pulled up a shirt, looking it over with his head tilted a bit. “So, I know you said no to patterns, but how do you feel about stripes?”

“Stripes are fine. I more just meant, like, floral or animal prints,” She elaborated, trying to get a glance at what he was looking at.

He snorted as he pulled out a red and white striped shirt that was knotted at the shoulders in lieu of proper sleeves. “Well I wouldn’t put you in those kinds of prints. It takes a very classy, sophisticated lady to rock those prints and you aren’t in that class by a  _long shot_ ,”

“Rude,” She hissed lowly.

“Not rude; honest. There’s a difference,” He said with a smug grin, holding the shirt up to her to make sure it would fit her alright.

She snatched the shirt from him and set it in her lap, as well. “Kinda like the difference between a  _cargo pilot_  and a  _fighter pilot_ ,” She said, waggling her eyebrows at him playfully.

Lance let out a faux-scandalized gasp, pressing one hand to his chest. “Rude girl!”

She merely shrugged before leaning further into the box, spotting something that looked black and stretchy off to the side. “Tomato, tomatoe,”

They both jumped in surprise when Shiro started busting up laughing at the jab.

He blinked when they both stared at him, the tips of his ears turning pink. He then cleared his throat a bit. “What? You have to admit that was pretty clever, Lance!”

The other hummed and turned his attention back to the box, his blue eyes mirthful as he continued his searching. “I’ll take your word for it. Now, back on track, if we could?”

In the end, they found a pair of black leggings, as well as an oversized cardigan in a light grey. And, instead of boots, Keira agreed to swing for a pair of ankle-high converse-style sneakers. The sneakers clearly weren’t name-brand, but they were surprisingly similar and comfortable to wear. Her hair was tugged back with nothing more but a simple red headband, which felt strange with how the little teeth gripped at her head. She normally just wore it back in a ponytail or let it loose. Lance had wanted to try and get her to accessorize further, but she’d opted into only wearing a modest silver necklace with a heart charm at the end, a small topaz at the center.

It had been a gift from Krolia; the pendent one that Keira’s father had given her before she left, so that she’d always have something to remember their daughter by.

She shifted a bit as she hovered by the small path that led into the city proper. It wasn’t much of a city anymore, admittedly, but it had a certain charm to it. Made her think of the kinds of elaborate villages Coran would describe when Pidge and the others had played Monsters and Mana with him a handful of times. It reminded Keira, too, that she should ask about them all getting together sometime to play. The idea of playing a game with the others after she’d been away from them for so long seemed kind of fun, and she’d always been a bit of a sucker for fantasy-style worlds.

She’d never played a game like that before, but she figured it wasn’t too hard to pick up. Besides, she was certain that Pidge would help her figure things out, if it was that big of a struggle.

“Oh, wow, you look really pretty,” A voice gasped just a few feet away, snapping her from her musings. She must have looked surprised, see how immediately Pidge’s face was turning bright red and she held her hands up in an almost defensive manner. “I mean-! You always look pretty! You don’t have to try to look pretty but you look even prettier when you try! Oh, wait, that’s not what I meant either!”

Keira blinked then giggled a bit, covering her mouth with one hand. “Hey, it’s okay. I know what you mean. And thank you,” She said, cracking one eye to size Pidge up. Her outfit was a simply one, too; a pair of dark blue capris, a sleeveless green top with a lightly ruffled edge along the collar in white, and a pair of pale pink flats for an added splash of color. The thing that really got Keira’s heart thrumming was how the blush on her cheeks made her freckles stand out even more. “You look super cute, by the way.”

She visibly relaxed at that, shoulders slacking a bit, but the blush remained high up on her cheekbones. “Thank you,” She said before perking up and stepping a bit closer, so she was standing beside her. “So, what’s on the agenda?”

Keira smiled and gently led Pidge down the path, resisting the urge to take her hand or offer her own arm. She didn’t want to be too forward. “Well, I was mostly just thinking we could walk around, see how the rebuild is going,” She explained, glancing over at the canopy-covered shops not far ahead. She knew most of what was here already from her check-ins with Shiro, but she knew Pidge hadn’t had the chance to come exploring just yet. She then offered Pidge a small smirk. “I may have also found a rebuilt ice cream shop not too far from here, if we wanted to get some.”

“ _For real_?” Pidge gasped, eyes lighting up like the tail of a comet.

Keira nodded, having to swallow and compose herself a bit. “Yeah! I’ve been coming down here with Shiro since I’ve been cleared to leave the medical bay, so we could do proper introductions with the coalition volunteers. While he did that, I wandered off on my own a couple of times. They were almost done when I stopped by,” She explained as they walked along. The paused for a moment at the first stall once they entered the shopping area proper, Pidge leaning in to look at the alien ores laid out curiously. “They said the selection might be a little limited, though.”

She sat back up and looked at her, still glowing at the prospect. “Pssh! Who cares? It’s  _ice cream_!” She laughed happily. The darker haired woman could feel a blush creeping up to her own cheeks. It was ridiculously charming how riled up Pidge was getting at the idea of something as simple as getting ice cream together. “Though, I suppose we do need to resolve one thing before we go any further.” She said, tone suddenly somber, gaze at Keira expectantly.

She blinked a bit and cocked her head. “Uh.. Sure, what?”

“Rum raisin… Any thoughts?” Pidge asked.

Keira couldn’t help but make a face and stick her tongue out. “ _Ugh_! Rum raisin is  _disgusting_!”

“Thank you!” Pidge blurted, throwing her hands up in the air.

“Who in their  _right mind_  was trying to defend  _rum raisin_?”

“Matt! He was trying to claim that it ‘isn’t that bad’! Like, did all the space travel screw with his taste buds? I feel like I might have to disown him for this,” She said, using air quotes and flailing her hands about as she spoke.

Keira snickered slightly. “I can’t believe Matthew Holt is fucking dead,” She mused.

Pidge let out a quiet yelp before bursting out laughing. “You’ve been brushing up on memes! You’re so sweet!” She said, her smile turning to something a bit fonder.

Keira’s heart leapt in her chest as she watched Pidge’s expressions shift, noticing for the first time that a few of the larger freckles on her left cheek could be traced to form a miniature inversion of the Leo constellation, as if she’d been born with a marking of stardust to help guide her to her fate.

Before they part ways later that evening, Keira makes sure to press a quick peck over the little mark, and delights in how the constellation becomes more profound at the blush that crops up from the small peck.


End file.
